


Spirits in the Sky

by charleslehnsherr



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Charles is a BAMF, Erik Has Feelings, Erik is Crushing Harder than a 12-year Old Girl, Guardians of the Galaxy universe, M/M, Protective Erik, i am aware the x-men and the gotg are both the same universe idubw, im a sucker so shaw is yondu which means hes somewhat Okay/Good, logan/scott if you squint, more tags to come in the future, pretty much everything is the exact same except mutation fills in also different characters and yeah
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-16 11:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14163525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charleslehnsherr/pseuds/charleslehnsherr
Summary: After being abducted after his mother's death, 26 years later Erik finds himself in possession of an infinity stone; which makes him the target of the most dangerous people in the universe.[The Guardians of the Galaxy AU nobody asked for].





	1. INTRODUCTION

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own GOTG/X-Men and obviously, this plotline isn't mine and belongs to marvel; it's just an AU.
> 
> ~ updates may possibly come either slowly or very quickly  
> ~ i edit everything after the entire story is completed  
> ~ i havent 100% outlined all the chapters but its over 14 chapters and possibly under 20?

_EARTH, 1988._

Erik tended to listen to music that matched his mood. If he was having a good day, he would switch on his walkman to play something upbeat that made him feel weightless. If he was having a bad day, he would play something more mellow. Something that made him stare out of a window and reflect on everything that was happening. He was young, so nothing bad really happened. But lately, sad music was all he could listen to.

And now?

It was the worst time of all.

There’s a painting on the wall outside of his mother’s hospital room. He focuses on it as _I’m Not in Love_ by 10CC plays. The painting is of a boy standing in a boat. There’s a thunderstorm around him - his yellow coat flapping around because of the wind; his brown hair clumped together by rain, and his hand is shielding his eyes.

He closes his eyes and tries not to think of anything.

He tries following along to the lyrics, thinking it will help. It doesn’t. All he can hear is the faint beep of a monitor coming from his mother’s hospital room.

Uncle Ade eventually comes out. He’s very tall, and normally his posture is brilliantly straight but today is not one of those days. He is hunched over, his hand squished together in his hands, and his eyes are gloomy. Erik imagines he is what the boy in the painting looks like as he stares at the thunderstorm ahead of him.

As if disaster is coming.

“Come, Schatz,” He says from the doorway. He reaches out and gently flicks his wrist forward. “Your mother is desperate to see you.”

Erik hesitates. He has hesitated to see his mother ever since his Grandmother sat him down to tell him the chemotherapy wasn’t working, and her brain tumor wasn’t going away. Ever.

“For God sakes,” Ade says, words stressed. “Please, she doesn’t have much time left.”

The young male gets up from his seats and crosses across the hallway, and eventually, his Uncle Ade is guiding him to his mother’s side.

Before, she was beautiful. Her hair was long, and a pretty shade of strawberry blonde. Her skin was a creamy white, and her cheeks were plump and always filled with color. Now? There’s a scarf wrapped around her head, where her hair should be. Her cheeks are sunken in, and her lips are chapped and grey. Erik can’t bare looking at her so he looks at her hands, where a rectangular shaped box wrapped in birthday paper lays on top of a sealed envelope.

“Don’t you have a present for Erik, Edie?” His uncle says behind him.

Erik glances up to see the forced smile that his mother gives him. She’s staring at him, and he wants to kick himself for feeling uncomfortable. She’s still his mother. His dying mother, but still...she’s his mother. He can’t just ignore her death.

Her smile seems like a wince, and when she speaks; he can hear the exhaustion in her voice. “Don’t open it now, Erik.” She says, before pausing to inhale harshly. “I want you to open it later.”

 _When she’s gone,_ He thinks. _When she’s dead._

He wants to say something, but all he can do is give a sad nod of the head. His music is still playing in his ears, faintly; and he can feel Uncle Ade take them off and wrap it around his neck.

_Be quiet, big boys don’t cry...Big boys don’t cry…_

His mother tries to bring her arm up to give it to him, but instead, she lets out a weak whimper. Uncle Ade takes the two items and shoves it into Erik’s backpack, which he always forgets his wearing since he wears it all the time.

“You’ll be taken great care of by Uncle Ade and Auntie Withers when I leave, okay?” There are damp tears around his mother’s eyes, and Erik feels the need to turn around and deck the rest of his family in the face, regardless of them doing nothing wrong. “And, you’ll father will get you soon...He truly is amazing, Erik. Beautiful. He looks exactly like you.”

If she could, she would reach out and cup her hands over his face, rubbing her thumb down his cheekbone. But she couldn’t.

 _Because she’s dying,_ Erik thinks bitterly.

He didn’t want his dad. He wanted his mom.

Erik tries to say something, opening his mouth; but instead, there’s a gasp from his mother. The doctors warned them this would happen. When she felt a sharp pain in her chest, that would be her heart starting to shut down.

And Edie felt it. She felt a vice-grip on her heart, squeezing it. She felt the lack of oxygen in her veins. And she wanted her son. She wanted her son, goddamnit.

“Please,” she wheezes, staring at Erik with wide eyes. “Please, Erik - Please, hold my hand.”

She needs me, he thinks. But he’s frozen, and he’s just staring at her; a single tear rolling down his cheek. Her face is contorted in pain, and if she was able to - she’d be gripping at her chest, trying to find air to grip onto.

“Erik,” She pleads.

Uncle Ade shoves him closer. Her hand is open, fingers twitching. “Hold her hand, Erik.”

Erik doesn’t move.

“E-Erik…”

The sound of a flatline causes Erik to snap out of his daze. His mother’s eyes are still open, staring directly at him. She no longer has that sliver of a spark in them. She no longer has the determination of fighting embedded into her face. She looks terrified. But peaceful at the same time.

_She’s gone. She’s gone, and you didn’t say anything. No ‘I love you, Mom.’ No ‘You did the best you could these past months and I applaud you for that… I’ll start listening to David Bowie more in honor of your memory.’_

Erik immediately feels anger crush his chest.

“Momma,” He says, voice hard, cruel, and echoing off the walls. “ _Momma.”_

_She’s gone._

He takes one look at his Uncle, who then manhandles him out of the door. “Stay here,” He says; before a doctor crosses their path and goes into his mother’s room.

Well. What was his mother’s room.

There’s a fiery ball of hate in the middle of his chest, coursing through his veins - taking over every fiber of his body. He squeezes his eyes shut. A happy song is playing from his walkman. He grits his teeth, pulls it out, and pauses it. There’s too much energy. Too much pain.

 _So much_ hate.

Erik can’t stand the pain so he decides to run. He runs through the hospital - down the familiar hallways, past familiar room numbers, and past concerned faces who quickly reach for a telephone. He slams the doors open, ignoring the sharp pain that shoots up his wrist from the force, and continues to run. He runs, and runs, and runs - until he can’t run anymore and collapses onto his knees, ripping his jeans and a top layer of skin off his knee.

He screams violently; his entire body shaking with the force that comes out of him.

_Dear God,_

_Out of all the mothers in the world - the ones who beat their kid, or neglect their kid - why did you have to choose mine to take?_

He screams until his throat goes raw. When he can’t scream anymore, he settles on weeping silently; his face shoved into the grass.

He has no idea how long he’s there, but it’s long enough.

There’s a blinding white light that sets on him, and he tries to get a look at where it’s coming from but the light is surrounding him; shielding every sight of his eye. And then, he’s weightless. His eyes look towards the blurry ground, and he can see his legs leave it. He can practically see himself being risen towards whatever the light is coming from.

He lets out one weak cry. “Mom...Mom, please…”

And then, it’s silent.

The field is empty, and officers are soon called the next morning to find Erik Lehnsherr, who is officially marked as missing within 72 hours.


	2. The Orb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Easter!
> 
> ~ All edits done after the work is finished  
> ~ story line / characters belong to marvel

_ MORAG, ABANDONED PLANET _

_ 26 years later. _

Erik’s buyers only information about the object he had to collect was; “It costs a lot of units, and I will pay you many units if you gather it for me.” In his mind, that was enough. He didn’t care what he was gathering for who, he just cared if he got his money - and if that money was just to the work he put into gaining whichever object it was he had to. 

Morag was obliterated. Erik didn’t know why, considering he merely only had time to hop to these planets and didn’t enjoy reading up on its history. All he knew was, according to his buyer - he should get in and out of there quickly so he wouldn’t have to deal with the remaining creatures that span out across the land. 

During every mission, Erik makes sure to have his walkman on him so he could listen to music. During this mission? The music was crucial. Once he exited his ship and started mapping out the destination of this item he had to pick up, he realized how empty the planet truly was. 

_ That’s probably why they called it the  _ abandoned  _ planet, jackass.  _ He told himself. 

His boots were already stained with purple soil at the sides the minute he set his feet on the ground. He winced at the idea of having to clean up after he tracks the soil onto his ships, but in the back of his mind; he knows he’ll just let the wet soil dry on the floor and he’ll just leave the dirt there. The amount of dirt and dust laying on his ship would make any other head roll, but he honestly couldn’t find it in him to care enough to clean up. He had nobody to impress, so who cared? 

As he walked through the planet, he bobbed his head to the music. He would dance, but that would kill the tough-guy persona he had built around him. There’s 99.9% of a chance that there are no living beings still living on this planet, but that isn’t 100%, so he’ll keep the footloose jitters to himself. 

The entire planet was wet. There were puddles everywhere; the soil was wet, as were remaining plants. Erik felt his skin crawl when he had to enter a cave and felt wet dirt from the roof fall onto his jacket. He shivered and brushed it off; when he was younger, Shaw made him crawl through much more nastier things than a  _ cave.  _

He met some of the creatures along his way - nothing violent, and if it was; it wasn’t big enough to take on a 6’ ravager. A rat-like creature colored a gross green had hopped out at him as he was exiting the cave and onto the road. Its claws were sharp and could easily draw blood if it pierced his skin. Its teeth were slanted to the side, gapped, chipped; and it stuck out of his mouth. Erik had to do nothing except jump and smack it away from him into a wall; where he heard a loud squeal before silence took over the cave. 

It wasn’t long before he was in front of a rumpled temple. From his observation; it was worn with old age, and water soaked through its walls. It  _ looked  _ stable, but Erik knew if he punched a wall with only 1/4th of his strength, the entire thing would collapse in on itself. 

He didn’t need to use any of his tools to walk in. The door was large, and all he had to do was grip and twist the handle to get it to open. No alarms sounds. Nothing was triggered. The place was eerie and set him on edge, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. After all, he was raised by ravagers. 

The object ended up being a metal orb. It was smack in the middle of the room when he entered, which seemed to be too easy. As he walked forward, he noticed the orb was protected by a force field. That was probably why his buyer gave him a tool that would attract metal. 

He turns his walkman off and shoves it deep into the pocket of his coat, where it’s safe. Then he reaches into his other pocket and pulls out and a triangular device made of metal. It hummed underneath his fingertips. 

“Okay, now how do you work?” Erik asked it, as if it were going to respond. 

He probably should have listened to his buyer when he was explaining why he needed it. He placed it on the ground and pressed a button that was on the side of it. It flipped open, almost making a star; and powered on. Erik looked at the orb and saw that it was shaking gently within its safe place. Soon, he could practically see the force of movement as the orb fought against the resistance of the force field and flew into the triangle. 

Erik huffed and pressed the button again, causing the power to shut down. He had no idea how the orb went to it, or how it knew he even wanted the orb. Maybe his buyer knew he was reckless and set it to a default, or something? 

He picked up the orb and re-folded the device before stuffing it back in his pocket. He held the orb up to examine it. It was heavy, weighing down on his hands. There were engravings of design etched into it. It didn’t look special, but then again; nothing he ever picked up looked special to him unless it was free food or some sort of technology that could help him make a mock walkman. He gave up on trying to figure out what it was and decided he would collect his 40,000 units instead without question. 

Right as he went to put it in his coat pocket; three large black men burst through the door; two of them immediately catching Erik off guard and pressing large laser blasters into his ribcage. If it set off, he would be dead for sure. 

He let out a quick sound as the one on his right snatched the orb away and tossed it to who was possibly their leader. 

The leader snarled, flashing Erik his white teeth, his vibrant blue eyes set on him. “Who are you, huh? How did you get here?” 

Erik scoffed, putting his hands up so they knew he meant no harm. “I’m Erik Lehnsherr, a ravager. I just came to collect this for a buyer.” 

The man looked at him, taking in the long red coat, black pants, and brown boots that stopped mid-calf. “You cannot be a ravager,” 

“What do you mean?” He demands, slightly offended. “Is it the coat?” 

“No,” The man says, stepping forward; aggressively baring his teeth once more. “You dress exactly like one. But you do not seem ravager - as a ravager would never be able to get their hands on a location for something as precious as  _ this _ .” 

He curls the orb in close to his chest. “Now, I’ll ask you again. Who are you, and what are you doing here?” 

Erik could easily end the fight now. He knows exactly how to get away from this position, as he had been in it multiple times before; and was trained to leave this position. Shaw called it the ‘interrogation position.’ He’s known how to escape from this since the age of 14. 

“I’m Erik Lehnsherr, as stated before,” He pauses. “Some people call me Magneto, though, since I have a thing for metal.” 

The man narrows his eyes. 

“A thing?” 

“Yeah,” He says lowly. “There’s something about metal that just grinds my gears.” 

The man’s eyes were more vibrant before as he let out a growl, his teeth seething once more. “I do not have time for this nonsense. Kill him!” 

And, that was his cue. 

Erik drops both of his hands quickly so the guns are pointed to the floor before reaching out and attacking the man in front of him so he can get the orb and out of there quickly as possible. The one to the left shoots his own foot by accident, and a loud scream bounces off the wall. The one to the right shoots the floor and is caught off guard by the jerk of his weapon. 

Erik moves away from the gun pointed in front of him and moves to the man behind, gripping the barrel and using the weapon as a bar to choke the man. “Don’t believe I’m a ravager now?” He muses, watching as the orb falls from the man’s hand and rolls across the floor. His cheeks are flushing with blood, and his hands are gripping Erik’s tightly. 

“I’ll get that, no worries.” 

He loosens his grip on the man and kicks into the pressure point behind his knee, which causes the man to fall to his knees, gasping in tightly as Erik pulls the gun towards him and wacks it across his head; promptly knocking him unconscious. 

The man who shot himself in the foot is having a panic attack on the ground, so Erik doesn’t have to worry about him. 

The last one isn’t too hard to take down. If Erik were him; watching his boss get choked out by a gun - this fight would’ve been over with. But no, the smart guy decided to just quake in his spot, not using his weapon to any use. 

“Do I have to tell you to stop being a pussy and do something?” Erik asks, causing the other male to swallow thickly. “Or, are you just gonna put your gun down, and scram?” 

The man decides the latter and scrambles quickly out of there. Erik can’t help but smirk as he picks up the orb and walks out; only to be met by four or five more men dressed exactly like the other men. 

_ Fuck.  _

“Hey, fellas,” He greets, masking nervousness. “Let’s not let this little old orb turn us against each other, yeah?” 

Then, he notices the armor they wear is made of metal. And that makes everything slightly easier. 

He offers the orb to them. “There you go, take it.” 

And as they go to grab for it, he throws his triangular device to the ground, and they’re all toppled into it, weapons pressed tightly to their chest. He cusses and pushes the orb into his pocket, taking off in a run to where his ship is. There are more of their men, but they’re facing the other way - probably look-outs - so he has no trouble slipping past them with no troubles. 

When he reaches his ship, he climbs into it quickly and immediately takes flight. By the time he’s in the air, the other men apart of the fleet that attacked him notice the men down; but it’s too late. 

Erik is soon on his way to Xandar, leaving the men behind.

↞ ↠ 

Erik is surprised when the girl makes herself known. One minute he’s lounging by the mock walkman he’s trying hard to assemble, and then the next a Xandar girl, skin light pink and hair hot pink, is coming up from the bunker. 

“Erik?” She asks, rubbing her head softly. 

He looks at her, rubbing a cord in his hand and tilting his head to the side in confusion. “Uh, hi…?”

She huffs gently. “It’s Victoria,” She says. “From the Winter’s club?” 

To keep her satisfied, he merely nods his head. “Yeah. Fun night last night, huh?” 

Victoria isn’t satisfied with his answer. 

↞ ↠ 

He goes down with her in the bunker, where he mostly does whatever he wants. He’s messing with the orb; staring at it, poking it to see if anything happens; and rolling it around to see if it’ll pop open. Erik can’t tell if he wants to open it or not. He sure as hell knows Victoria doesn’t want to. 

“It’s weird, and from an abandoned planet,” She says as she brushes her hair, watching him mess with it. “I would’ve left it there if I were you.” 

Erik curls his nose up in annoyance. “Well, you’re not me. And I’m about to invest in 40,000 units; so I find this to be awesome.”

Awesome was a lame word, but this girl was also lame and Erik didn’t like her very much unless she was in his bed. 

He continued to roll it around and poke at it until his communicator starts to ring, projecting Shaw’s caller I.D. 

“Don’t answer it-”

Victoria was already pressing the accept button, and Erik now 100% regretted having a one night stand with her. While her body was amazing, she was annoying as hell. 

“Erik,” He immediately barked; his face projecting right in front of him. Behind him, Erik could see the other members of his crew watching intently. “My prodigy. The son I never had.” 

“Cut the shit, Shaw,” Erik barks, head now throbbing with a headache. “What do you want?”

Shaw’s lips curl into a frown. “I take it you aren’t very happy to see me?”

Erik raises one eyebrow, and the man lets out a sigh. “Just tell me what you want.” 

“You betrayed us, Erik,” Shaw says, mocking sadness. “I take you in, raise you to be the man you are today - and you just leave. And now we hear you took our business. We want the orb, Erik. If you give us the orb, perhaps we’ll welcome you back with open arms.”

“You’ve never given me a hug,” The younger male spits. “All you’ve done is hoist me up to get you things.” 

Shaw rolls his eyes. “Now, now, Erik - don’t be crude.”

“Yeah, what makes you even think I want to come back?” 

Silence. 

Erik rolls his eyes. “Thanks for wasting my time, Shaw.”

He hangs up and looks to Victoria, who lets out a low whistle. 

“Somebody has daddy issues.” 

↞ ↠ 

Shaw growls as Erik hangs up. 

“You should’ve known he was going to do that,” Raven says from beside him, using a rock to sharpen her knife. “When he left, he said he wasn’t coming back.” 

Shaw rolls his eyes, and she’s surprised he doesn’t understand Erik is exactly like him. 

“I don’t care what he said in the stupid fucking note,” He growls. “Just put a bounty on him. Dead or alive, see if I care.” 

It’s Raven turn to roll her eyes. “Not dead, noted.” 

Shaw tells himself the only reason he wants him is to get all those units the boy has in his possession. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my tumblr for any questions / concerns / comments:
> 
> https://blackbanther.tumblr.com/


	3. Ronan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ no edits until the story is finished  
> ~ plotline/characters belong to marvel  
> ~ might be a third update today idk im bored

_The Dark Aster_

_Kree Warship_

Charles, at the young age of 21, wants nothing to do with his so-called father at all.

He was given a gift, that Kurt Marko has used as a weapon. From as young as he can remember, he has been training to be his own weapon - using not only his powers but his body. At the age of four, Kurt started to teach him about their ‘culture’s’ way. He was raised to believe that if anyone crossed one of their people, betrayed them; they were to die. And he blindly followed. By the age of five - his powers started to show.

“You have a gift, young one,” Kurt would tell him; brushing the young boy's hair away from his face and cupping his cheeks. Blue, innocent eyes would look up at him in awe. As a child, his father was his hero. His only teacher. “And you will learn to use it against our enemies.”

By the age of 10, he had only practiced his powers - the power of what seemed to be telepathy. He could read minds, override people’s bodies; clear their memory. There was no limitation to the mind. And once he got ahold of it, his father stripped it away from him. He had to learn to use his body as well, not just his powers. Once he had his powers, and an upper-hand in fighting; he would be the perfect weapon for Kurt Marko’s fighting.

He fought for five years against members of his army; especially his older brother, Cain. He never lost. But in a way, he did lose, because he wasn’t fighting for himself. He wasn’t fighting for a good cause. He was fighting for the worst creature in the universe and had to sit on his lap and call him father.

He was too young to understand he was being used. Too young to understand the pain he put his brother through, the pain he put innocent people through on missions Kurt sent him out to. Now, he’s old enough to understand he wants out.

When one of the soldiers come back crying about a _Magneto_ \- some man named Erik Lehnsherr - Charles knew it was time to act.

A buyer from Knowhere had contacted him - offering four billion units for the orb that lay hidden on Morag. The only problem was Kurt Marko wanted it for himself and had sent both Charles and his brother Cain to work with another powerful being, Ronan, to retrieve it for him. When the buyer contacted him, he knew it was his way out. He only wished he could save Cain as well.

He stands by Ronan’s side, hands behind his back; unmoving. His eyes are locked on Cain, who is glancing around the room anxiously, large biceps tense and paranoid.

That was Cain’s problem. He was scared and showed he was scared.

It only took a couple of months for Charles to realize if you show weakness around Ronan, he will chew you up and spit you out. Thankfully for him, he had already learned to hide his emotions because of Marko.

“Ronan,” The soldier says, immediately kneeling at his feet.

Ronan snarls in disgust, foot twitching with a need to kick the man in the face. “No need for wasting time,” he says. “Have you finished your duty?”

Charles doesn’t need to look around because his mind works as another set of eyes for him. He already knows everything before the soldier has said anything, and wishes to leave as soon as possible, so he speaks for the poor soul.

“He didn’t retrieve the orb,” Charles says, looking to Ronan. He knows Ronan likes him. Everyone from Marko’s little cult likes him. “It was taken by a ravager.”

Ronan’s eyes are blank as they look at Charles and then back to the soldier. “Is this true?”

Charles is only slightly offended Ronan never truly trusts his powers.

The soldier is dead within minutes after he nods his head in affirmation.

Ronan lets out a low growl and turns to Cain. “Will you be able to retrieve the orb for me, considering you’ve been sitting on your ass lately?”

Before Cain can respond, Charles speaks. “Ronan, if you do not mind me interfering, but my father will be very disappointed if he doesn’t receive this orb soon. It would be an honor for me to go.”

“Ronan already said-”

Ronan presses a fist against Cain’s chest, turning fiery eyes on him. “Do not speak for me,” He says, before turning back to Charles, looking down at him. “Will you not fail?”

Charles smirks. “When have I ever?”

A sickening smile creeps onto Ronan’s face.

_If only I actually wished to help you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my tumblr 
> 
> blackbanther.tumblr.com
> 
> for questions / comments / concerns


	4. Now It's a Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ i use grammarly to edit  
> ~ will possibly rewrite this chapter whenever i can bc i wrote it at school and had distractions around me  
> ~ dont own gotg/xmen/characters/plot whatever its an AU

_ Xandar _

_ The Capital of the Nova Empire _

Hank looked around the crowded area, lifting his portable database up to their faces to see if any had a bounty on them. “Yanno, Logan; if you acted less like a dog and more like a human - we would be able to find people much faster.” 

Logan growls and Hank turns around to see him cupping his palms in the fountain, before bringing up water to sip on. 

“Ugh,” Hank says, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Please, stop. You could get some sort of weird disease doing that.”

The other mutant huffs, scratching his beard before crossing his arms and sitting down on the edge of the fountain. It gives him a wet ring around his butt, but he doesn’t seem to care. He listens to Hank as he rambles on, scanning people; trying to see if he can make any money off of kidnapping them. 

Logan doesn’t really like speaking, so its Hank who speaks for the both of them. 

“Look at that thing,” Hank grumbles, watching a baby suck on its thumb while it hangs off of its mother's hip. “So weak, and vulnerable. They eat anything you put near their mouth like a dog. It’s disgusting.”

If Logan looks over at him with squinted eyes, Hank doesn’t say anything. 

“And look at that rich guy,” He’s now pointing to an old man with slicked back white hair; whose flirting with a Xandarian girl. “Trying to pick up girls. I bet his dick is wrinkled and old.” 

Logan remembers when Hank was more wide-eyed, innocent, and refused to do this kind of business. He had no idea what made him act the way he does now - crude, violent - but he could only guess it was because of he self-experiment he did that made him a giant, blue fur-ball. 

“Got one,” He said, looking at his database. “Erik Lehnsherr, wanted for... _ 40,000 units _ ? Crap, get your bag, Logan. We need this one.” 

↞ ↠ 

Erik dropped off Victoria before he met with the Broker to get the units he was owed. 

Victoria lived near the Broker, so it didn’t take long to reach his store. Erik tossed the orb back and forth before the door opened, and he started walking towards his counter. 

“Mr. Lehnsherr,” he greets. He’s about ten times smaller than Erik is, having to look up at him to meet eyes. “I’m surprised. Where is your partner, Shaw?” 

Erik placed the orb on the counter softly. “He sends his regards,” He pauses. “Also he told me to tell you your ears are sexy.”

Broker reaches up and gently touches his ear before dropping it with a scoff. “Well, that’s fine. As long as I get what I hired you for, I don’t care who I transfer the units to.” 

Broker turns to do something that Erik can’t see. 

“Yanno,” He says, looking through the glass counter and at the small objects that decorated the insides. “I almost died getting this for you, so I would love getting some extra units.”

Broker paused before looking over his shoulder, eyes pointed. “Who attacked you?” 

“Didn’t catch their names,” Erik says. “All I know they were some black guys with really vibrant blue eyes. I think they were apart of the Kree empire.” 

The man gasps loudly, and before Erik knows it; he’s being shooed from the store. “Listen, Mr. Lehnsherr - I would love to do business with you, but if the Kree empire is involved, that means  _ Ronan  _ is involved, and if  _ Ronan  _ is involved-” 

Erik was standing right outside of the door, Broker shoving the orb into his hands. “What? Who is Ronan?” 

“Someone who is looking to kill the Xandarian culture - my - culture, and I would rather not be on his bad side!” 

Erik was then outside of the shop. “Well, what about my bad side?” 

“Goodbye, Mr. Lehnsherr.” 

Then the door was shut on him, and Erik hit the door hard. “We had a deal, man!” He screamed. “I needed those fucking units!” 

He hits the door one last time before looking down at the orb in his hand with a sigh. He groans and runs one hand down his face. 

“What happened?” 

Erik looks over to see a male; around four inches shorter than him. He’s wearing leather armor and brown boots; sucking on a piece of chocolate as he stares at Erik with bright blue eyes. He cleared his throat and leaned his hand against the wall, tossing his orb in the air. 

_ Yeah, you’re fucking cool,  _ Erik said to himself. 

“Guy backed out of a deal.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Don’t like that type of stuff. I’m Erik, Erik Lehnsherr. People call me Magneto.”

The man smirks and walks forward, throwing the rest of the chocolate to the side and licking his lips. Erik is too busy paying attention to his lips to be on guard. 

He licks his lips one more time before he’s reaching forward and grabbing the orb, kicking Erik hard in the ribs. Erik grunts and crouches over, watching as the male sprints off. 

“Fuck,” He says, reaching into his coat pocket. He pulls out a ball and flings it in the stranger's direction. It opens halfways and wraps around the man’s knees, causing him to face plant into the ground. He’s still holding onto the orb tightly. 

By the time Erik reaches him, the man has broken the wrap around his knees and is pushing his legs out to kick Erik backward. 

_ This was not the plan,  _ He can hear - and he doesn’t know where it’s coming from. A sharp screech echoes through his brain, and Erik grips the sides of his temples, wincing violently as the male gets up to take off. By the time there is a lengthy distance between them it stops. 

Erik  _ wants  _ to let go of the orb. He really,  _ really  _ does. But when he was younger, his mother always told him he didn’t know when to let things go, and this was  _ not  _ an exception to those times. 

“He’s over _ here _ , Logan,” He can hear someone say. “We need to collect our bounty, stop fuckin’ around!"

That was Erik’s cue to get up and sprint after the male. They were on the second floor of the Xandar Common Plaza, but it didn’t prevent the male from gripping the side and dropping himself about three stories down to the main lobby. He crouches, knees sturdy, and grasps his surroundings before he takes off to the right. 

Needless to say, it was times like this when rocket boots - they were called something way more scientific that Erik didn’t really care for - came in handy. All he had to do was tap his foot and soon, he was floating down onto the ground. 

“Jesus!” He hears from behind him. “These guys are  _ intense _ .” 

The man doesn’t get away because unlike him, Erik  _ knows  _ Xandar. All he has to do is cut through some concession stands and soon he’s tackling the man to the ground, pinning the males arms to the ground. 

“Fiesty,” Erik muses. “I like it.” 

“You lost the orb,  _ idiot _ ,” He says, shifting enough to bring his feet up to plant them on Erik’s hips. He pushes harshly, which causes the pin on him to become loose. There is no time wasted; he headbutts Erik harshly, grabs his hair, and pulls him off of his body. He rolls them over so he’s straddling him.  _ Stay out of my way.  _

Before he can scramble away from Erik, the man is being tackled to the side; and  _ wow  _ for a tiny guy, he sure hits hard. 

Erik glances only once at where the man who stole his orb is being strangled by a blue man before he’s going after the orb, which lays nears a trash-can by the main fountain. 

“Get him,” The blue man growls, baring his sharp teeth at his companion, who immediately moves forwards. “I have this one,” He snaps. “Go get  _ Lehnsherr! _ ”

_ I don’t have time for this,  _ Erik thinks as he scoops up the orb.  _ This is too much.  _

And he almost makes it. 

_ Almost.  _

The Nova Core had already been tipped off of a large fight in the Xandar plaza; and soon all of them - the blue werewolf, the sexy guy that kicked his ass, Erik himself, and some man in a tight tank with claws protruding from his knuckles - are drifting in an anti-gravitational field; their weapons dropping (if possible). 

The blue werewolf looks up. 

“Fuck.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my tumblr for any q/c/c
> 
> https://blackbanther.tumblr.com/


	5. What a Bunch of A-Holes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ i use grammarly to edit  
> ~ don't own anything

_Nova Headquarters_

_Xandar’s Armed Forces_

Nova Prime could feel the anger boiling in her veins. The Kree Empire and Xandar have been butting heads for ages, with the Kree side being much more violent and intolerable. It’s been 24 hours since the last hassle Ronan’s goons gave Nova, yet their leader refused to take any consideration into what he was doing. After the Peace Treaty, their planet thought that would be the moment of change between the two of them - yet nothing yet seems to have happened.

“With all respect, Nova Prime,” Kree Leader says, eyes half-lid and looking bored with the conversation. “I do not have any time with this.”

“I thought with the Peace Treaty this would be settled, Kree,” She spat angrily. “Ronan and his goons are attacking our people - trying to commit a _genocide._ I would at least expect some sort of formal apology on his and his army’s behalf.”

The man rolls his eyes. “I have a meeting to attend to, Prime. The Peace Treaty should say everything needs to be said.”

“He’s killing _children_ -”

“Goodbye.”

He clicks off and she grips the edges of the table, lips curling over her teeth in a sneer.

 _What I would give to knock that asshole out,_ She thinks bitterly.

“Good news,” General Rogers says from beside her. “We seem to have apprehended one of Ronan’s second in commands.”

Her ears perk up. “Take me to them.”

↞ ↠

“Charles Xavier,” General Rogers says.

The man behind the glass wall still has his handcuffs on, and there are two metal pieces hovering from the sides of his temple. He has lithe muscles and is short, but doesn’t seem all that intimidating until he makes eye contact with Nova Prime and glares deeply.

“He’s a mutant. Telepath, to be exact. Can control people’s minds, know what they’re thinking - there isn’t much of a... _cap_ to his powers. We put small devices near him that seem to disrupt his mutation. He’s the adopted son of Kurt Marko, who trained him as a child to become a living weapon. Marko lent him out to Ronan on some business, leading us to believe they’re in cahoots. Charles here seems to have betrayed them, though, since he says he wants nothing to do with them.”

Charles is taken out of the room, and replaced with a...man? Nova Prime can’t tell if he’s a man or not since he has fur all over his body.

“Hank McCoy,” Rogers explains. “Went mad scientist when he realized he had a mutation. Having hands for feet, he fell into a deep hole of insecurity and decided to experiment on himself. As you can see, it didn’t stop his mutation - it just increased it. He went from shy, loving scientist to a beast within two minutes. It seems, according to his record, he’s known for bounty hunting.”

Nova Prime would call Hank a beast, but it seems to her the next man is more deserving of the title.

“Logan Howlett,” Rogers says, licking his lips. “Calls himself Wolverine. He was taken into an underground, illegal experimentation which...well, made him this. He almost can never die, considering he heals too fast to ever retain long-lasting injury and seems to have a skeleton made of metal. When he wishes, he can have claw-like razor blades sprout from his knuckles.

Logan looks at the Nova Prime and smirks. Clenching a fist, he holds it up; and lets the ‘claws’ make themselves known.

She quickly asks for the last retained on the list.

“Erik Lehnsherr,” Roger says, unamused. Erik has his arms crossed, yawning every other second as a way to say _fuck you_ to them. “Calls himself Magneto, since he has a kink for metal; or something like that. He was picked up by Sebastian Shaw and his group of ravagers at a young age - his own thieving prodigy. He seemed to interfere with one of Ronan’s buyings, hence why Charles went after them.”

“Or maybe we were-” Erik shouts, before the men in control of the glass screen grey it out.

“He’s very inappropriate,” One of the men say, looking down at the floor with a cough.

Rogers ignores the comment and looks to the Nova Prime.

She rubs the sides of her temple, trying to soothe a headache. “Send them to the Kyln.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my tumblr for any q/c/c
> 
> https://blackbanther.tumblr.com/


	6. The Great Escape (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ i use grammarly to edit  
> ~ plotline/characters dont belong to me

_ The Kyln _

_ High-Security Prison _

Erik huffed as the security guard transporting them pushed Logan into him, causing the man to growl. They made sure all four of them knew their place; just stupid brawlers too dangerous to set foot on Nova Prime’s precious land. Logan’s hands were wrapped with harsh metal so he wouldn’t be able to use his weapons, while Charles was told the prison was set so  _ muties  _ as powerful as him wouldn’t be accessed his powers without getting hurt. Erik and Hank were the easy ones, considering Hank was just...Hank, while Erik was just human.

“What’s the orb?” Erik asks Charles, who’s walking in front of him. Well, technically in front of Hank, but Hank’s in front of him, so logic shows Charles is basically in front of him. He’s so small Erik has to lean towards the side to see Charles. “Broker’s afraid of it, Ronan wants it, and it’s worth thousands of units - so, I’m curious. What is it?”

Blue eyes flash over thin shoulders, but his face is blank. “I have no words for a thief.” He looks forward. 

“Says the genocidal maniac,” Logan grumbles from behind Erik. It’s the first thing he’s said since everyone’s been together on a fun little trip to prison. Charles looks behind him, glaring angrily. “Yeah, we know who you are. Marko’s little favorite  _ bitch _ .” 

Charles looks back ahead, shaking the words off and holding his head high. 

“Who is Marko?” Erik asks.

“You really need to catch up,” Hank sighs. “Marko is Charles’ father. powerful being of the universe, or so everyone has said. Known for wiping out entire species. How do you think Morag became abandoned?” 

Charles stops, and turns around to get close to Hank. “That is  _ not  _ my father.” 

Hank straightens his body, but Erik can still see the fear on his face. 

“Keep it movin’ princess,” The guard says, swiping a gun at Charles. 

Charles gives a silent look of  _ I will kill you  _ before turning back around and allowing themselves to be escorted. 

“Yanno,” Erik says. “After all of this goes down, maybe you and I should get a drink sometime.” 

Hank looks over his shoulder. “Sure, let’s escape prison and then get some coffee somewhere on the way to collect your bounty.” 

Charles can’t help but smile.

Erik groans. “Yeah...Sure, dude.” 

“I’ve escaped prison before,” Logan says silently. A shiver runs down Erik’s spine. “This one is no exception to my level of talent.” 

They fall into a silence, until they walk past the room where their confiscated goods are in. Erik glances over to see one of the guards messing with his walker. They mess with the headphones before hearing the sounds of  _ Hooked on a Feeling  _ by Blue Suede. Interested, they realize to put it over their head. 

“Hey,” Erik says. “ _ Hey. _ ”

_That’s my mom's stuff,_ Erik can’t help but think; feeling panic bloom in his chest. As he passes, he realizes there is an opening in the door. He slips through it and starts yelling. 

“That’s mine!” He cries. He walks towards the security guard, who growls and punches him in the stomach. Erik crouches over, before the guard reaches out and punches him across the jaw. 

Charles leans into the door, curling his fingers around it and watching with no amusement as he sees Erik scream. 

“Hooked on a Feeling,” Erik says from his knees, looking angrily into the man's eyes. “Blue Suede, 1973, that song is  _ mine. _ ”

The guard reaches out and tases him. 

Charles, Hank, and Logan soon have to walk away as he receives punishment. 

_ Weak,  _ Erik can almost hear as he gets beaten. 

↞ ↠ 

They all meet up again after having taken showers, and stripped of their normal clothes to wear prison garb. Erik endured the natural torture almost all prisons used - a hose spraying him with boiling water that caused his skin to stain red, and being tied down and beat by the guards. By the time he was out of his shower and putting on his clothes, every muscle in his body was aching. 

Charles strayed away from the three of them, hangs hanging by his side and taking in all parts of the prison. The moment other inmates saw them, it started a semi-riot. People from the second floor start hurling things at them - whether it be from something simple as a rotten fruit, or something as dangerous as a sharpened knife. 

“They aren’t throwing it at us, if it makes you feel better,” Hank tells him, jerking his head to the left. Erik sees Charles quickly grab a knife that is thrown. He throws it back, and it hits someone right in the thigh. An echoed scream bounces off the prison’s wall. “He’s got quite the rep.” 

Charles looks at Erik, raises one eyebrow, and then continues on his way. 

“Guards won’t allow him to get hurt, right?” He asks Hank. 

Logan lets out a half-hearted laugh. 

“The guards aren’t here to help us,” Hank offers. “We could do a majority things wide in the open - have an orgy, kill each other; they don’t give a crap. Their job is to make sure we don’t get out. And if someone like Charles Xavier dies? Well. That’ll make their life ten times easier.” 

Erik shrugs. 

_ I’ll look after him then,  _ is left unspoken. 

↞ ↠ 

If there’s one person Scott Summers hates in this world, it’s Ronan. At the age of ten, he had to watch his mother, father, and older brother get brutally murdered from the hiding spot in his room. How Ronan didn’t sniff out and kill him? He had no clue. All he knew was that he was tiny, his powers hadn’t shown yet, and he was helpless to help his family. Now he’s alone in the world, and he’s hellbent on one goal - killing Ronan himself. That’s too hard though, considering he’s locked up in prison for how many Kree’s his murdered trying to get to Ronan himself. Now that Charles Xavier is here though? Perhaps he can even the score between him and Ronan. 

During the night shift, there’s a man by the nickname Banshee who works there. Scott knows him because he rarely sleeps, and that’s when petty criminals decide to take whoever wronged them down to the bathrooms to commit murder. Scott hasn’t murdered in this prison yet, but he has a rep. 

On his first day, he let it be known who he was - and everyone ignored him. Nobody spoke to him. Nobody interacted with him. They left him alone, to sulk, and work-out just in case he ever got out of there to beat Ronan’s ass. The main reason nobody crossed paths with him was because he had the ability to laser beam their asses six ways across the universe. His powers were worthless in here though, considering it was mutant-proof, but they didn’t know that. And honestly? Scott didn’t want them to do that. 

Charles was dumb enough to think sleeping in his own cell would keep him safe. Ten after five was when some petty people came for him. Banshee just opened it, and told them to make it quick and far away from him so he wouldn’t get in trouble with the Nova Core for helping it happen. 

Scott watched as they entered his cell, was surprised when Charles was  _ actually  _ sleeping and off guard - and was weak enough to let a man two times larger than him wrap his arm around his neck and drag him off like that. He’s heard many stories about Charles - Marko’s own living weapon. 

He expected much more than what he saw. 

Scott followed them and watched as one of the tinier men with a mouse-like face pressed him up against a shower wall, his dagger pressed to his throat. The bigger man also had a knife to his throat, but if what Scott heard is true, that wouldn’t be enough to stop him. 

“Charles Xavier,” mouse-face hisses, teeth bared. “For your work with Ronan, you must be punished.” 

“Stop,” Scott says, walking towards them. Charles’ eyes flash over to him, and Scott can’t help but smile. “I’m not gonna help you, Xavier. I want you to kill you.” 

The man lowers his eyes into a glare. He seemed to do that quite often, Scott has observed. 

↞ ↠ 

“Take him somewhere not near me,” Erik hears. He’s wide awake in the cell he shares with Logan, Hank, and...a ton of other burly men he didn’t know. He sits up and slowly creeps to the window of his cell room. He was bored, couldn’t sleep; and wanted to see how this place operate. One peek over the edge of the window showed Charles, hands held behind his back by a large man, with a second man holding a knife to his neck. He bared his teeth at the guard acknowledging them, yelling between gritted teeth. “I don’t need the Nova Core on my ass about someone dying under my watch.” 

Erik felt anger strike in his chest - for some reason he didn’t know, obviously just because Charles was sexy and had nice eyes and a cute nose and good hair and okay shut up now, Erik. He was going to intervene when he saw a third male watching, a small knowing smile on his face that Erik knew was no good. He watches as the man follows them - lurking a good distance behind them. 

“Lehnsherr,” He hears from behind him. It’s Hank, glaring at him. “You’re my freaking bounty, dude. Ignore the fact Charles is getting murdered, something we all saw coming - and go back to bed. You can’t go picking fights.” 

“Well the guard isn’t doing anything,” Erik says. “So I think it’s up to me to help him.” 

“Why?” Hank asks. “What has he ever done for you?”

Erik tilts his head up in thought.  _ Well, he kicked me real hard a few times, and stole my orb. I’m positive he’s peeked in my brain, too. But that’s kind of hot, so who cares?  _

“I just need him for the orb,” is Erik’s stupid response.

Hank smacks him in the arm and growls. “Stop thinking with your dick,” He says. “It’ll only get you into trouble.” 

“Well, trouble is my middle name.”

“Is it really?”

“No.” 

“What is it then, if you’re lying?” 

A pause. 

“Magnus.” 

Another pause. 

Hank starts snickering. 

“Oh, shut up.” 

Erik exists the cell, and soon Hank is following after him; mumbling something about getting all those units he deserves. By the time they get there, the man who had followed the other men has Charles up on the wall, hand gripping him tightly. Charles paws at his arms weakly, trying to inhale for oxygen. 

“Yo,” Erik says quickly. The man snaps his head behind him, and drops Charles, who falls to his knees. He inhales deeply, and Erik can hear wheezing in his chest. “Hey, I’m Erik. Erik Lehnsherr. And I don’t know what beef you have with him, but let me tell you - it would be way better if you  _ didn’t  _ kill him.” 

“Idiot,” Hank mumbles to himself, watching with a palm pressed to his face. 

He doesn’t know if the guy is glaring at him, or is brooding, or what - since he’s wearing sunglasses. Or something like sunglasses. Does it count as sunglasses if it’s one thick, black metal band, with a neon red stripe through the middle? 

“Ronan killed my father,” He says. And wow, Erik expected some deep, harsh, angry voice - but he sounded like a kid, honestly. He’s kind of scared of the glasses now, though, since the neon red seems to glow as they turn to him. “He also killed my brother, and my mother. Since I cannot kill him, it seems as if the spirits brought me his lovely right in-command to kill instead. A family member for a family member, is what I say.” 

“I wasn’t even working with Ronan when he killed your family,” Charles grunts. The man turns around to swiftly kick him in the face but he catches it; twisting the man’s foot and causing him to twist awkwardly and fall to one knee. Charles reaches around and presses the meaty part of his forearm to the man’s Adam apple. “Leave me alone, and I will let you live.” 

“Woah,” Erik says, but Charles isn’t looking at him - he’s making sure the man in his arms won’t move. “You can relax, Charles. He isn’t going to kill you.” 

“Yes I am,” the man manages to grunt. Charles tightens his grip on him, using his other hand to yank his hair and make him yelp in pain. 

“No, you aren’t.” 

“Please,” Hank says, annoyed. “Lehnsherr, please. For the love of God, mind your own business.” 

“I agree with the dog,” the man says. 

“Oh fuck you,” Hank spits. “Charles, please kill him.” 

“Shut up,” Charles barks. “Let Lehnsherr explain to him why in the Goddamn nobody should kill each other right now.” 

It’s pretty much common sense to Erik, but these people were raised on some uptight planet, so he explains it as simple as possible. “Well, Charles is in possession of something Ronan needs, something he  _ wants.  _ And I’m positive a man with that much power knows where Charles is located.” He pauses. Both of them have a dead expression on their faces. “Ronan is going to come looking for Charles. When he does, that’s when you-” 

Erik forms a sideways L with his hands and pretends to blow his brains out.

“I’m going to what?” The man asks harshly. 

“K-kill him,” Erik says. “You’re...You’re gonna kill him.” 

“Tell me why I should trust you,” The man says. Charles still has his grip on him. 

Erik smiles. “I have nothing else to lose.”

↞ ↠ 

Erik walks Charles back to himself after the man - Scott - is warded off. He seems to be convinced that he has a chance at killing Ronan, which he doesn’t, but it helped saved Charles life. Erik can see a tiny thumb shaped bruise at the point where his neck and collarbone meet. 

Erik stops him and gently puts his hand on his neck, which earns a well-deserved slapped. 

“Don’t touch me,” Charles snaps, bringing his own hand up to rest on the bruise. “You can’t just touch people without consent.”

Erik flushes. “Sorry, I just. I didn’t know he held you that hard. I’m glad I helped.” 

“Well I was fine,” Charles said. “It barely hurt, I have endured way worse. The nightmares my future holds are  _ dreams  _ compared to what’s behind me.” 

The taller of the two can’t help but smile. “You’re pretty badass for someone so tiny,” he says, shoving Charles’ shoulder slightly. 

He doesn’t budge. He still acts like he has a stick up his ass, glaring at Erik’s hand and sniffing. “What did I say about touching me?” 

“Sorry,” Erik says. “My bad.” 

There’s a brief pause. 

“Why did you help me?” Charles asks, leaning his head down slightly and looking up through his eyelashes. 

And yeah, some of the reason is why he’s pretty. But mostly it’s because of the orb. Or so Erik tells himself. 

“The orb,” Erik says. “I wanna know what’s so special about it, and why you want it.” 

Charles stiffens. “I’ll talk to you about that later.” 

“Why not now?” 

There is a tug at the corner of Charles’ lips. “Maybe I like torturing people.” 

“Or you want a reason to speak to me.” 

Charles rolls his eyes and enters his cell, going to sleep without even saying goodbye.

“You’re welcome,” Erik says weakly to the door. 

As he’s walking away, he swears to God he can hear a faint  _ thank you.  _

He goes to sleep dreaming of beautiful blue eyes and messy brown hair. 

↞ ↠    


The next morning Scott glares at anyone that looks Charles way. He would be flattered if it wasn’t because Scott wanted to be the one to kill him. And regardless of what Erik says - if Ronan doesn’t come soon, Charles will be expecting another knife pressed into his neck as a wake-up call. Except this time it’ll pierce through his skin, and he’ll wake up dead. 

Erik is sandwiched between Hank and Logan, who are bickering across from him. Charles didn’t know how long they had been up because he wanted to stay in his cell as long as possible. That didn’t seem to cut for his block’s morning guard, though, and it wasn’t too long before he was manhandled out of his room and shoved to go get some food. 

When Erik saw Charles, he perked up - something that made Charles feel unsettled. Nobody has ever been excited to see him. Maybe Marko, but he...was another story. 

“Good morning,” Erik says as Charles sits across from the three men. Hank and Logan stop to turn on him. “Is it too early to ask what the orb is?” 

The telepath takes a bite of his bread, not looking at Erik. 

“Guess it is,” Hank grumbles. 

When Charles is finished with his meal; he crumples up the pathetic excuse for a napkin and leaves it on the leftovers he didn’t care to eat. Erik was openly staring at him. 

“Well,” He says. “What would you like to know?”

“What is it?” Erik asks, leaning forward on his elbows to get a closer look at Charles’ face - which, to be honest, always seems to be blank. “And why does Ronan want it?”

“I don’t know what’s in it,” Charles tells him. “I really don’t. All I know is that Ronan needs to give it to Marko in order for Marko to make the clearance on ending Xandar. If it’s that important to him to do something so destructive - then I know it shouldn’t be in his hands.” He pauses. “I wasn’t getting the orb for him, though. I had an agreement with a third party to get it for him.”

Hank gives an over dramatic gasp from where he’s sitting. 

“Little Charles Xavier?” He says, pressing his hand to his chest. “Betraying his beloved, genocidal, father? Who would have thunk?” 

Charles pays no attention to him. “You seem to throw that word around a lot,” is all he says. 

“Well, who’s the third party?” Erik asks. “And how much is he willing to pay for it.” 

“His identity is none of your business since he’s up in the higher community, but he was willing to pay four billion units for it.” 

Erik and Hank both exclaim at the same time - “ _ Four billion units? _ ”

Charles glares. “Keep your idiotic voices  _ down _ ,” He says. 

“You know,” Hank says. “Since Erik and I saved your life, it’s only in good will we can split the money between then three of us.” 

“I was the one who saved him,” Erik grunts. “But I guess.” 

Logan speaks. “I want the money too.” 

“And why should you get a profit?” Charles asks. It’s the closest tone to amusement the three of them had heard in his voice since they met each other. “Because you're Hank’s pet?” 

“Because it’s equal,” Logan says. “Also, none of you have escaped prison before - I have. There’s no use of talking about getting all this money, but you have no way to get to it.” 

The three of them pause and Erik is the one to say  _ well, yeah; that’s fair.  _

“Well,” Charles grumbles, after giving in. “How are you going to get us out, if we’re in the most heavily guarded prison belonging to the Nova Core?” 

“I have a plan,” Logan says. “If you follow that plan, then we should be fine.” 

“What plan?” Erik asks. 

“Well first off, I’m going to need at least two security bands the guards wear,” He says. “They have clearance to everything in the prison, which means we could just walk out - but they would never let us do that without starting a scene. Secondly, you see that blinking yellow light on the black box up there?” 

Hank, Logan, and Charles turn to where Logan is pointing, looking at the black box that’s about 30 feet in the air - connected to the control center smack in the middle of the prison. “Inside is a sort of purple wire. Behind it is a battery. I’m gonna need it for the plan to work. Lastly, I need that guy’s leg,” He points to a man with a prosthetic leg limping around the prison. 

“Charles can get the bands,” Hank says. “I heard some of the guards here seem to find him attractive. Smash for a pass,” 

Charles groans in dislike. “I’ll get the bands, but I would  _ never  _ use my body in that way. 

“Never?” Erik asks. “Like...ever.” 

Charles ignores his innuendo. “Well, Erik can get the leg - since he’s a thief. I think Hank should get the battery since he most likely can climb better than the rest of us.” 

“No way!” Hank exclaims. “There’s no way I can get up there and  _ survive. _ ” 

“I’m gonna need him to do something else when we get into the control center,” Logan says. “I’ll get the battery.” 

“Fine,” Charles says. “The later we get out of here, the better.” 

“That’s actually wrong,” Logan says simply. “At night, they’re more likely to have more guards because that’s when most breakouts happen because dumbasses like you think there’s a better chance to escape. Acting early in the morning is the best - more people are way off guard.”

Charles crosses his arms and huffs at being told wrong, but the other two males agree with Logan so he ignores it. “Fine,” He says. “Let’s get started then.” 

↞ ↠ 

The leg was first, since Charles attacking two guards would probably get him into solitary confinement. The man with the prosthetic leg was sitting in his cell, reading a book to himself silently. Charles was behind him as he walked in, closing the door behind him and leaning against it with his arms crossed. The man was older than both of them combined, probably around the age of fifty, and it kind of hurt Erik that he would have to take away his leg. 

“So,” Erik starts. “What’s it gonna take for me to get that leg from you?” 

The man was baffled. “You want my leg?” He asks. “Why on God’s Earth would you want my leg?” 

Erik lifted his shoulder. “For stuff,” 

Charles wanted to smack him. 

“So,” He says again. “What’s it gonna take?” 

↞ ↠ 

“ _ 50,000 units! _ ” Erik shouts with a groan. “I can’t believe a prosthetic leg like this costs 50,000 units!”

He had the leg tucked under his arm safely, and was following Charles to the public showers. Two guards stood by with guns across their chest. Before they get there, Charles makes it known that he won’t need any help. 

“It’s two guards,” Erik says. “And I haven’t seen them yet, but everyone here is about three times your side. I think you’ll need help.” 

“Did you not see me put down that man last night?” Charles snaps. “Or were you too busy sulking about your little box being taken from you, that you forgot?” 

“First off, it’s a walkman,” Charles doesn’t care, but whatever. “Second off, I did. It’s was pretty cool.” 

Charles rolls his eyes. He leads into the showers and tells him to wait there. That’s when hell breaks loose. 

↞ ↠ 

“What are you doing in here?” 

Charles cut to the chase. He was tired of being cooped up, even if it were 24 hours, and he wanted out. He smiled sweetly and walked up to the easier looking guard - his hands not gripping his weapon tightly, and having a red flush to his face. 

“Just wanted to drop by and say hi.”

The guard beside him pointed his gun but he wasn’t as fast as Charles was. Charles had already grabbed the man by the hair, smacked his head into the wall behind him, and shoved the unconscious body in front of the weapon point at him. Charles rolled out of the way, dropped to his knees, and made a quick effort to put the man down on the floor. He hooked one foot behind his knee and pulled forward, while his free leg pushed him back. He lost grip of his weapon and fell. 

Charles straddled him, gave a cute wave, and then gave a nice right hook across his face. 

↞ ↠ 

“That was quick,” Erik says when he exists, two bands clenched in his fists. 

“They were nothing,” The man shrugs. “Pathetic, weak men.” 

“I won against you,” Erik said, smiling at him. 

Once again, Charles didn’t find him very funny - but Erik was going to make it his personal mission to be the reason the man smiles. 

↞ ↠ 

“We got it,” Erik says, laying the leg out in front of Logan, while Charles all but throws the bands at him. Logan smirks as he picks up the leg, observing it. “It should be at least ten minutes before anyone realizes the guards in the showers are down.”

“Good pick to put down the guards furthest from us, Charles.” Logan says. Charles doesn’t smile, but he raises his chest up in a small gloat of pride. Logan makes eye contact with Erik. “By the way, I didn’t need this for anything. It was a joke, you should learn about them one day.” 

_ AND CHARLES FUCKING SMILES. AND HE PAID 50,000 UNITS FOR THAT.  _

“Fuck you,” Erik spits. “I paid 50,000 units for that!” 

“Well, I don’t need it,” Logan shrugs. “Maybe you can get your money back.” 

Erik is about to lunge and strangle the man when he grabs the bands and swipes the card attached to it over the chunks of metal attached to his knuckles. The metal dissolves like it’s melting, seeping through his fingers. Charles eyes lights up, reaching up to touch the small magnetic squares that have been floating around his temple. 

He gets the second band and swipes it over the telepathic stoppers, and Erik can see the relief on his face as they dissolve. 

_ Thank God,  _ Erik hears him project to the four of them.  _ I’ve had a non-stop headache for the past day with those things. _

“That’s creepy,” Hank shivers. 

Charles glares. “I could make you hallucinate if I wanted to.” 

Hank ignores that claim. “So, Logan,” He says instead. “The battery?” 

Logan rolls his eyes. “Charles, hold on to the bands.”

Charles puts the bands around his wrists and crosses his arms, watching as Logan walks off. It seems like both Erik and Hank are both jealous - but aimed at the opposites.

Logan doesn’t make any of his movements hidden. He’s reckless, but he’s good. He walks to where the battery is, and just  _ jumps.  _ His hands grab onto whatever can hold him, and that’s when fire is opened - thousands of bullets just shooting at him. It doesn’t work though. It’s as if his skin chews it up and then spits it back out. 

The entire prison explodes. Inmates are running towards places, planning to steal; moving to hide, and hurting each other. 

“Protect him, you fools!” Charles cries, taking charge and starting to attack some guards near him. Some guards are using hand held weapons, while others are using drones. 

Erik can only think of how Charles doesn’t have bullet proof skin, and can’t spit all these bullets out like Logan is doing as he climbs, hurting, but unphased. He looks to Hank, who nods, and they try to help the best they can. 

Charles disarms two of the guards; climbing up on one and wrapping the man’s head in between his thighs before full on judo-slamming him into the ground, snapping his neck so hard the guard starts to cry. He keeps place on the ground when another guard goes to attack him, pointing a gun at him. Charles switches positions to kick the weapon away before tackling his legs and bringing him to the floor. He quickly swipes a hard punch across his face; and Erik can see teeth go flying. 

Hank is attacking one of the bots, running off of a table and pouncing. He clings to it, canines bared as he grips the sides of it so hard the metal dents. He aims the bullets coming out of it away from Logan and towards the others. Some of them shut down and crash to the ground, while others fire back. 

Erik is choking out a guard in a headlock when Logan finally lands on the ground. He growls and tells them all to follow him. Erik grips the man’s head and twists it - carefully enough to put him down, but not harsh enough to kill him. 

They follow Logan into the control center, and as they are closing the door; Scott slips in undetected. 

“If you’re leaving,” He says to Erik. “I’m following you. You said Ronan was coming after him? That means I can’t leave his side.” 

Charles glares at Erik. “Erik,” He seethes. 

And boy, his name sounds good coming from Charles. 

“Sorry bud,” He says, patting Charles' shoulder. Surprisingly, he doesn’t shrug him off. Maybe it’s because of the adrenaline coursing through all of them. “Kinda promised him that so he wouldn’t kill you.” 

“We will talk about this later,” Charles grunts. 

“So we will be talking soon?” Erik can’t help but say, giving him a wink. 

Charles rolls his eyes. “Despicable.”

“Charles,” Logan says. “I need you to hold off the guards outside. They want to attack us.” 

Charles’ face hardens. He looks hesitant. 

“You’re like the best telepath in the universe,” Erik tells him. He sees Charles’ shoulders somewhat relax, and they make eye contact. Erik gave him a soft smile. “C’mon. I believe in you if it helps?” 

“I do too,” Hank says. 

Charles sighs and walks towards the control panel, focusing on the outside. He blocks the men behind him, placing two fingers at his temple. He starts with one guard on the top floor, and is soon zipping through them; a mental link all connecting them together and causing them to freeze. 

“Hurry up,” He grits. He can’t hear them, he can only speak. He’s never controlled so many people at once before. “Go. Do what you have to do.” 

“Hank,” Logan says, thrusting the battery into his hands and taking the bands from Charles, who stands motionless. “I need you to override the system and activate the anti-gravity field. Afterwards, override the bots’ systems and de-attach the control room from its roots. It’ll work as an escape pod if you get the bots’ to attach underneath. All we have to do is get through the main hallway, and we’ll be right back where we started. Land there, and we’ll be blocked from the prison. Then we’ll be able to get to Erik’s ship they confiscated, get our stuff, and be on our way to whoever Charles’ buyer is.” 

There’s a silence. 

“Go,” Logan growls, smacking Hank in the shoulder. “Charles can’t hold them for long. I can practically see the sweat coming from his forehead.” 

Erik turns to Scott. “Do you have any idea what language they’re speaking?” 

Scott glares at him. 

_ I’m surrounded by the biggest stuck-up idiots in the Galaxy,  _ Erik thinks.  _ Except for Charles. He’s not an idiot, he’s a stuck up  _ hottie. 

Erik and Scott pretty much just stand there the whole time; Charles shaking from the use of his powers, and Hank furiously typing away at the computers. 

Charles lets out a cry. 

_ HURRY YOU IDIOTS,  _ they all hear. Erik and Scott wince, reaching up to rub their head, while Hank and Logan go unphased. 

“Nearly there,” Hank says out loud. 

Charles’ legs are starting to shake. 

“3,” 

His legs start shaking even harder. 

“2,” 

A gritted yell comes from the back of his throat. 

“1,” 

Erik is running forward as Charles passes out, arms falling by his side weakly. Erik lays him down on his back and kneels beside him. Charles’ blue eyes are glazed over and half-lidded. 

“Told you,” Erik said. Charles gives a tiny smile before his eyes close. Erik can’t help but rest his index finger against his neck, feeling his pulse beat beneath it; making sure he was okay. 

He barely noticed as Hank turned off the anti-gravitation field, and was making their own little escape pod. He only noticed when they were flying down, and then taking a sharp turn. Since it wasn’t an actual ship - or maybe since Hank was a terrible pilot - the ride was bumpy. Erik held Charles’ head so his neck wouldn’t hurt as they slammed into the side. 

Hank flew fast and wild, some bots coming off the bottom, and eventually, they were skidding on the ground until they came to a halt. 

“Fuck,” Hank said, eyes wide and hand covering his beating heart. “That was a good plan.” 

“I just can’t believe it worked,” Logan said with a smirk. 

Charles whimpered in his sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my tumblr for any q/c/c:
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	7. The Great Escape (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ i use grammarly to edit  
> ~ characters/plotline dont belong to me

“Charles?” Erik taps the side of the telepath’s face softly. “Charles?” 

He wakes up the opposite of how he fell asleep. Instead of waking up slowly, eyes fluttering open; soft, gentle smile on his face like Erik expects - he panics. Charles' eyes pop open and he instantly grabs at Erik’s throat, gripping his neck tightly. 

“Charles!” Logan yells, gripping the sides of the man’s waist and pulling him away from Erik. He can feel sharp nails scrape against his skin as he’s pulled away. “Relax, it’s us!” 

Logan allows the man to reach out and smack him across the face before Charles realizes where he is. There are small droplets of blood coming up from ripped skin on Erik’s neck. He reaches up to touch, having crimson red seep into his fingertips. 

He doesn’t apologize. He just stands up and wipes off his clothes, giving a curt nod to them all. “Good job,” He says awkwardly. 

“Yeah,” Erik says, wincing as he rubs at his neck. “Now how do we get out of here?”

The control center is crashed in the main hallway leading to the entrance. There are glass windows all around them, and there is no door. 

“Crash it,” Hank says. He reaches up to grip a bar on top of a window, swings back, and then tucks his leg in and kicks the window. The glass shatters, and Hank lands solidly on the outside. He turns to the other four men and smirks. “That easy.” 

“Okay, hot-shot,” Scott says, rolling his eyes and going through the already destroyed window. Charles follows suit, and so does Logan, but Erik decides to be a show-off and crashes his own window. 

“Our stuff should in the first door on the right,” Charles says. “That’s where they keep all of the prisoners’ stuff from before they were taken. Let’s just hope everything is there.” 

Sure enough, everything is there. Logan didn’t have anything to begin with - just the clothes on his back which he quickly changed into - but Hank had an entire bag of stuff with him, as did Erik. 

“Do you have the orb?” Charles asks, coming up behind Erik. And surely enough, his head must’ve been hit pretty hard because he lays a small hand on the other man’s bicep.

He clears his throat. “I have to check,” 

Erik shuffles through the bag quickly, swiping through everything. His clothes are there, his weapons, everything. Everything except his walkman. A hollow feeling sets in his chest. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Erik hands Charles his bag. Hank and Logan and Scott are getting dressed in the clothes they were wearing before getting arrested behind him, but Charles is still in his yellow jumpsuit, which stands out against his skin. “I need to get something back, they didn’t put it in here.” While Charles was staring intently at him, Erik swipes the orb and holds it behind his back. “My ship should be on the edge of the prison - that’s where they were keeping it when they came in. So nobody shoots up down, fly to the left side, I’ll meet you there.” 

“Erik-” 

He’s already shoving his bag into Charles' arms. “ _ Go _ ,” He tells him. 

↞ ↠

Charles keeps Erik’s bag wrapped tightly in his arms. He changes quickly away from the other men, slightly uncomfortable from switching to baggy clothes, to the tight armor he had to wear when fighting for Ronan. He shakes it off and the follows the three other men towards Erik’s ship. At the entrance, it’s surprising they don’t have to fight through anyone to get help. 

“All guards were at the prison break,” Hank mumbles, using one of the security clearance bands to gain access to the ship. “They should be coming this way soon, so we have to act fast.” 

They climb on board quickly, and Hank decides to settle in the pilot’s seat. Charles sits behind the co-pilots seat, Scott sits directly next to him; and Logan decides to settle on standing. 

“We have to wait for Lehnsherr,” Charles says when Hank takes the ship to the side of the prison where Erik said they would meet him. “He said he would be out soon.” 

Hank grumbles, and they sit there silently for ten minutes. “He’s been too long,” Hank said. “If we don’t leave now, the outside pods will shoot us down. Do you have the orb?” 

Charles gives an affirmative nod, holding up Erik’s bag. He opens it, but only pulls out two packets of Asgardian sauces. He flings them to the side and shuffles around. There’s an old box wrapped in colorful paper, an envelope, and some other things Charles cannot identify. 

Hank is staring at him when he looks up, lips pursed. 

“That bastard still has the orb with him,” He says unamused. 

↞ ↠

Erik cracked his neck as we walked down the main hallway. He was back in his regular clothing, and he had never felt more comfortable before in his life. He had two of his laser guns in each hand. The guards in the main hallway were too easy to take down. When the guards saw him in the hallway, they reached for their gun but Erik had already shot them down - all of their bodies falling on top of each other and convulsing. 

The man was in some sort of break room - sitting down at a table away from Erik, which makes his job ten times easier. The orange headphones are over his head, bobbing his head to what seems to be the rhythm of  _ Escape (Pina Colada). _

All it takes is a quick hook to the head to put him down.

↞ ↠

“We need to leave,” Hank says. “We’re going to get shot down.” 

“Not without the orb,” Charles snaps. “It’s too important.” 

“Calm down, Princess,” Scott says. “I would hate to see you lash out and kill a smart man. As they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to Marko’s genetics.” 

The telepath is about to lash out at him when Logan speaks. 

“Quit your whining,” He’s looking out of a ship’s window. “He’s coming.” 

Charles gets up from his seat, dropping of all of Erik’s things onto the floor. He goes to stand beside Logan; looking at the side of the prison. The man outside was wearing a space-proof mask, every inch of skin covered by either heavy leather or some sort of other protection. His boots had flames coming from the bottom, helping him glide to his destination. The only skin not covered were his hands, which were probably freezing - flakes of ice were already wearing away at them. 

“You’re smiling,” Logan says. 

Charles looks away and goes to sit down. “I liked it better when the pet did not speak.” 

↞ ↠

Scott is the only one impressed at Erik’s ability to stay behind and yet make it out both alone and alive. When he says this, Logan grunts and says he’ll never help them again - and the other two males roll their eyes. He boards through the bottom, and the minute they are secure and inside; Hank takes them to the coordinates Charles gives him. 

Erik brushes his fingers behind his ear, and the mask dissolves.

“What did you get?” Scott asks. “Must’ve been important.” 

“That doesn’t matter,” Charles walks to Erik, placing one hand on his hip and the other hand out in front of him - asking for the orb. He has to look up at Erik in order to make eye contact with him. “Give me the orb. I shouldn’t have trusted a thief with it.” 

The man rolls his eyes and throws the ball at the telepath, who quickly snatches it and walks back to his seat. 

“It’s called a walkman,” Erik tells Scott, pulling it from his pocket. “Plays music?”

Scott is silent. “...Music?” 

Everyone is space is weird, Erik thinks.

↞ ↠

When they’re all settled, and the ship is safely sailing - paranoia flushed from their systems; everyone falls into their own routine. Hank is tinkering around with Erik’s mock walkman system, taking it apart and figuring out how to engineer it to become a better version than itself. Charles is reading a book while eating something small, while Scott sits in a chair to stare at him. Logan is sharpening his claws, and Erik took a 45-minute nap. 

“Where even is your buyer?” Erik asks, laying down on the floor with one knee bent and his arms tucked behind his head. “Like, what planet?” 

“None of your business,” Charles says. “Just know we’re heading in the correct direction.” 

“Is this another hint at wanting more reasons to talk to me?” The male asks, looking over at Charles. He never noticed the small litters of freckles along Charles’ nose. 

He truly was beautiful. 

“I just like to go with the flow,” Is what he says. 

“That’s fuckin’ dumb,” Scott says. “Why should anyone trust you if you don’t tell them anything that’s going on with you?” 

Charles glares in his direction. “Do not make me hit yourself,” 

Scott snorts. “Yeah right, like you could-” He stops talking and his body goes straight. He lifts up a hand and punches himself in the face. 

“Why are you hitting yourself?” Charles asks. Scott punches himself once more. “Why are you hitting yourself?” 

He stops, and Scott falls to his knees, letting out a large breath. 

“You’re a maniac,” Scott claims. 

“It was kind of funny to me,” Logan says. “You’re kind of annoying and talk a lot.” 

“Well you talk too little,” Scott claims. 

They really are idiots, Erik thinks. He’s still looking at Charles, who is watching the exchange between the two men across from him. Except for Charles. He’s okay.

↞ ↠

Shaw taps on the glass softly. The little blue bear made of transparent material within its container coo’s and looks up. Small wings break through its back, and he flies up to a corner, pressing his cheek into it; tiny paws beside his face. Shaw gives it a small and straightens up his back, looking towards Broker. 

“How much for one of these?” He asks. “Also, do you have any more? I would love to put them up on top of my shelf so I can pick one up and let it relax on my shoulder through the day. Make it my little buddy.” 

Broker blinks. Shaw is a very peculiar man. Besides having harsh look, small scars littering his face, and age making his face hard; he doesn’t seem very harsh unless you cross him. 

“I believe it to be 2,000 units.” He pauses, looking at the blonde woman next to him. “Is...Is he serious, though?” 

“Dead serious,” She muses. 

“Excellent,” Broker says, clapping his hands together. “Then I will ring you right up.” 

He goes go move towards Shaw and a red man appears out of thin air, a Cheshire grin on his face as he wraps a thin tail around his neck. The woman walks to his left before small blue checkers flash over her body before she’s blue with slicked back orange hair. 

Shaw circles them to come behind him, smacking his hands on his neck. 

“So,” He says casually, digging a thumb into the meat of his shoulders. “Tell me what this orb is, why everyone wants it so bad, and where I can find it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on tumblr for any q/c/c:
> 
> blackbanther.tumblr.com


	8. Knowhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ i use grammarly to edit  
> ~ i do not own the plot/characters

Hank is dozing off when he looks out the window to see they are approaching a planet that looks like a skull made of billions of stars. He blinks from where he’s leaning on Logan - sitting up and leaning forward. It’s beautiful.

“It looks like a severed head,” Logan grunts.

Scott comes to sit next to him, their knees touching. “That’s because it is. It’s called _Knowhere._ It’s not technically a planet, but a mining colony. The head was cut off of a celestial being, so pretty much all material there is rare and priceless. People are either very poor or very wealthy. Don’t be fooled though - everyone there is shady and money grabbers.”

Hank sniffs and shifts.

“Be careful,” Charles says from the back, looking at Erik, who is still at his spot on the ground. “This isn’t like some of the other planets that have been kind to you. If you aren’t from space, or a mutant - sometimes your head comes clean off. Wouldn’t want you to get hurt,”

Erik shrugs. “I should be fine. They said the same thing about Q’Walag, and I survived there.”

Charles hums and looks back to the book in his hand.

“Whatever you say, Erik.”

* * *

  _Knowhere_

_Mining Colony_

They enter the planet swiftly, Erik’s ship larger than most of the pods they used to carry material to and from places. A song by a man named David Bowie was playing in the background - and Charles couldn’t help but find this to be the best one Erik has played since they started traveling.

Children run past them frequently; Logan raising his arms so they can duck beneath him and sprint towards their destination.

“Be careful,” Charles says, smacking a hand away from his back pocket. “The people here seem sweet and innocent, but they are far from it. That includes children.”

The telepath led them to a club. The lights were far too bright for any of their tastes; and they were in all sorts of colors - purple, pink, orange, blue; it didn’t matter. If it was a color, it was put on blast to grab everyone’s attention.

“What the fuck is this?” Scott asks.

Charles doesn’t agree in the distasteful tone. “It is the business my buyer owns,” He says. “I have to wait for one of his employees to come get me, so I need you all to wait downstairs. I will go with Erik.”

“Glad to know you want me,” He gloats.

Hank butts in before Charles can roll his eyes. “What do you expect us to do?”

Charles shrugs. “Whatever you want.”

↞ ↠

Scott takes Logan and Hank to the bar far away from the creature fights that are taking place. Logan must not have liked them since he gave the scene a snarl and looked in the opposite direction. Scott hops onto a tall chair, his feet dangling from the ground. He smacks the seat in front of him. “Sit down,” he tells them.

He’s kind of disappointed Logan didn’t sit with him, but oh well. Hank is okay, he just seems like he doesn’t do much.

“Logan can’t get drunk,” Hank tells Scott.

Scott rolls his eyes. “But I can. And right now? I want to get wasted.” He taps the Xandarian who is working at the counter. “Ay, Xandy; I need a large Blown Universe - _stat._ ”

Hank and Logan sit quietly and watch as Scott chugs his alcohol.

↞ ↠

There’s a balcony upstairs that the buyer’s employee tells them to wait on. Charles’ hands are curled over the side of the balcony, looking out at the view in front of them. His favorite part about Knowhere was the sky because the outer rings of the planet seemed to be transparent. It looked like an explosion of purple, pink, and orange all mixed together before beautiful sparkles were sprayed on it. He feels peaceful here. It’s slightly cold, but he doesn’t mind.

Erik was looking around out of boredom, trailing his hands over the stained marble architecture; and swaying to the music playing in his ears. When he gives up on trying to look at physical things, he goes to stand next to the telepath - crossing his arms and leaning over the side of the balcony.

“My buyer is making us wait,” Charles explains with a deep sigh. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”

While Charles says sorry, he doesn’t mean it. His voice is flat and doesn’t bear emotion.

“It’s just a selling tactic,” Erik tells him. “I know about these things from the ravagers. Make them wait, get them a little sluggish, and when they walk in it’s easier for them to rip you off.” He pauses. “Your tactics are a little bit more...let’s stab them, and see what happens.”

Charles rolls his eyes, but there’s a small spark of amusement on his face. “My father didn’t really enforce diplomacy,” He explains. “We were never the kind type of people.”

“Marko?”

The telepath’s face hardens and he looks away from Erik to the stars in front of him. “Kurt Marko is a menace,” He spits. “He is not my father. He…” Charles hesitates, before looking at Erik. His eyes are rounded and soft. “Marko took over my planet. I was...royalty, to some extent. Whoever he didn’t kill became his slave. I was one of them. He took a liking to me because I tried to get into his head...protect my parents. But he was too strong, and I was too young, and my powers were too weak. He decided he wanted me to be some sort of pet of his. Instead of sparing my parents like I asked, he used them as a way to put me in my place. He killed them in front of me. It wasn’t slow, or painful, he just...killed. After that, he took me home, tortured me, and turned me into his own personal weapon.”

There’s a silence. Not an uncomfortable silence, but a peaceful one. Erik doesn’t think Charles had ever spoke of that to another person before. And he isn’t going to pity him. He knows that would only make things worse.

“My mother died when I was young,” Erik explains. Charles looks at him, studying every inch of his face. “I had to see her die, and I couldn’t help her. No matter what we tried, she still died. And it was the worst feeling ever. All I remember was screaming at the sky until some white light picked me. Before I knew it, I was on a ship filled with ravagers. My best friend was Shaw’s right-hand woman, Raven. But no matter how many friends I made, no matter who I was close to - I was still a slave. They forced me to crawl places they couldn’t fit in so I could get it for them. And when I got old enough, I started helping them side-by-side. If I disagreed, I got beat, and if I didn’t help - I was threatened to be eaten by them. I only got out recently.”

Charles’ face falls, and he’s now staring down at Erik’s hands, where his walkman is.

“This was the only thing that kept me going,” He says, passing it over to Charles. It’s blue, and there’s a little piece of glass in the middle that shows two black circles spinning. “It’s called a walkman. It was my mothers.”

Charles turns it over in his hands, curious. “What does it do?”

“It plays music,” Erik pauses, moving to take his headphones off and place it over the telepath’s ears. “Listen.”

The beat was seamless, soft drums playing in the back, and the man singing was filled with emotion. Charles smiles softly, reaching up to touch the headphones. Erik licked his lips when they made eye contact.

“The melody is very sweet,” Charles shouts - not knowing how loud he is speaking. The other man laughs.

Charles shifts his weight onto his left leg, and then back onto his right, hip jutting out. Erik takes his hand, and the shorter male tenses before relaxing.

Erik can hear the lyrics to the song from where he’s standing; so he starts to sing.

“I must have been through about a million girls,” He sings. Except he doesn’t sound good to Charles, which makes him give a bubbly laugh. He picks up Charles’ free hand he isn’t holding and puts it on his shoulder. He sways softly to the tempo, pressing the volume button down so Charles can hear him clearly. ‘I’d love ‘em and I’d leave ‘em, _alone.”_

He drags his voice out deeply and Charles is now grinning, eyes sparkling as Erik moves them in circles.

“I didn’t care if they cried, no sir - their tears left me cold as a stone.” Erik lifts Charles hand up twists his fingers as a way to signal the man to spin. He does so, but it’s choppy and lacks rhythm. Erik can’t help but laugh, and Charles doesn’t speak because he’s too busy enjoying the foreign art he’s being introduced to. “But then I fooled around and fell in love…”

Erik trails off when Charles lays his head against his chest, closing his eyes. He enjoys the vibration of sound coming up and out of Erik and feels relaxed by the beating of his heart.

“I fooled around and fell in love since I met you, baby.” Charles leans back and looks at Erik, who is now holding him. There is an arm wrapped tightly around his waist, and their noses are a fingertip away from touching. “I fooled around a fell in love…”

His voice trails off and he leans down to bring their lips closer together. Erik shuts his eyes and puckers his lips before Charles is pulling a knife from its thigh holster and holding it to his neck. The music is still playing, but Charles is glaring intently at him.

“Don’t play with me, Lehnsherr,” He says, eyebrows knitted together and face filled with anger. “I know who you are, and I do _not_ mess with people like you. Love and sex is just a distraction when it comes to war.”

Erik is too baffled to say anything except, “War? What?”

“We are at war,” He says, backing away from his grasp. There is a ghost pressed against him where Charles was. “Ronan is trying to blow up an entire planet - how are you so dense?”

There’s no time to respond because there’s a bright, pink, neon light flashing out of their peripheral vision.

↞ ↠

Logan has Scott’s arms pinned behind his back tightly, Hank in front of him with his hands held up in surrender. The glasses that control Scott’s mutation are lopsided, but still covering his eyes so he doesn’t accidentally hurt someone.

“Fuck you!” He’s shouting, voice slurred. Logan’s fingers grip him more tightly, and the man can feel bruises starting to form on his skin. “You don’t know _shit_ about me.”

Erik and Charles push through the crowd right as Scott manages to break from Logan’s grip and lunging at Hank. Charles interferes before he can get to Hank, quickly leaning down and tackling Scott to the floor. The man thrashes around but Charles straddles him firmly and presses the knife he was holding to his neck. Scott strains against it and soon a droplet of blood is falling down his neck.

“Relax,” He says calmly. “You need to relax, Scott.”

Scott thrashes once more, but Charles must have projected something to him because he’s going limp, head crashing against the floor and sad eyes staring up at the ceiling. Charles can feel the anger practically swell in his veins.

Erik asks Logan what happened.

“He’s drunk,” Is the only answer he receives.

“Please get off,” Scott says.

Charles hesitates before putting his knife away and getting off of him. He stands up and Scott brushes past him, walking off somewhere.

“Scott,” Hank goes to say, but Erik rests a hand on his shoulder.

“Let him go,” Charles says. “He’ll only cause trouble for us.”

He looks around and sees all types of drunks staring at them blankly.

“C’mon,” Charles says, starting to walk back to their waiting spot. “You guys have to stay with us now since I’m now apparently a babysitter.”

↞ ↠

Scott wanders around the streets of Knowhere endlessly until he sees one of the miners in their own little booth - and spots him speaking into a communicator. He walks past a weapon booth where he subtly snatches two small daggers and goes to the man.

He goes behind him and slips the two knives under his chin.

“Can you send a little message out for me?” He asks sweetly. The man can smell the stench of alcohol all over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my tumblr for any q/c/c:
> 
> blackbanther.tumblr.com


	9. Infinity Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ i use grammarly to edit  
> ~ plot/characters dont belong to me

They only have to wait a total of ten minutes before a pretty, small Xandarian girl with metal bracelets around her wrists appear. She seems to shake as she walks, and before meeting eye contact with Charles, she dips her head down, holds the ends of her skirt in two fingers, and gives him a curtsy. Erik has to bite his tongue not to say anything offensive. 

“Charles Xavier,” She says softly, looking up at him. “My employer would like to see you now.” 

He nods his head and they follow her through an open door. The room is filled with all sorts of things - in the corner, there is a dog in an astronaut suit, beside him is a human-like duck covered in chains. Erik stops looking when he sees another Xandarian girl inside of a life-sized tank, her wrists bounded by chains; and a metal bound around her head that shocked her whenever she moved. There was human waste everywhere, and her eyes were held open by two pins. 

“Creep,” He hears Logan mutters beneath his breath. 

The man is waiting for them at an empty display case. He presses a button so the glass folds down and a stand props up from the bottom. He waves a feathered cloth over it to get rid of any dust. 

“My beautiful Xavier,” He says, walking to Charles with open arms. 

Charles accepts the hug reluctantly, body tense and ignoring the fact the man sniffed at his hair. 

He was short, even shorter than Charles, and he wore a white coat that fell to the floor with brown hair along the edges. His hair was curled up, and he was wearing black eyeliner and red lipstick. 

“He really is a creep,” Erik mutters back to Logan. 

“Hello, Collector,” Charles says, getting away from the man subtly and as quickly as possible. “I would love to stay and chat, but in order to pick up the orb, I adopted some strays along the way.” 

Neither Hank or Logan liked that comment. Erik didn’t really know how to feel about it. 

“Ah yes, but of course. May I see it?” 

Charles reaches into Erik’s bag, which is hanging from his shoulder. He pulls the orb out and the Collector’s eyes light with excitement. He holds it gingerly between his two hands and holds it up to the light, sighing in adoration. 

“Beautiful,” He says. He turns to the open display and rests the orb in the middle stand. 

“So,” Erik says, coming up to stand behind Charles. “What is it?”

The collector doesn’t answer until two machine arms are coming up from under the display case and inserting themselves into the sides of the orb. They twist it, and the orb open; revealing a small stone glowing bright purple. Its energy eats at the pieces of the machine until they reach a block. 

“This, my dear boy, is an infinity stone.” He waves his hands and holograms start to float around them. Some of the holograms were planets, while the rest were either human figures or other colored...infinity stones? “There are six. A beautiful, extraordinary power is held inside of each one...Only inferior species can possess the power, but they do not hold it for long.” 

Hank snorts. “Awesome, it’s a like a tiny asteroid. Now, can we get paid?” 

The Collector sighs and moves away from the stone, over to his counter where he pulls out a drawer filled with different sorts of currency. Nobody notices the way the Xandarian girl who works for him steps towards the stone, her eyes burning a bright purple. 

“How should I pay you, blue?” He asks, fingertips gliding along stacks of money. 

“Units,” Hank huffs. “Obviously.” 

It is only when the girl raises her hands to grip the stone does Collector notice. 

“Carina,” he barks. “Do not touch that!” 

She looks over her shoulder, eyes inked with the dark color of the stone. “I will no longer answer to a puny  _ mortal _ ,” She spits. 

Charles moves to grab her wrist but she has already grabbed hold of the infinity stone. There’s a loud bomb. The girl's pink skin cracks with black, her eyes filling with black. She lets out a horrific screech and everyone is blown back by bursts of energy. Charles crashes into Erik, and they both go flying into a bookshelf. Logan growls, his claws protruding from his knuckles suddenly as he tries to grip onto the countertop but goes skidding across the floor when it explodes into ashes. Hank doesn’t fight, so he accepts slamming into the front door. 

It’s as over as soon as it starts. 

Disoriented, Charles gasps from his spot next to Erik and scrambles to his feet. There is a burnt skeleton where the Xandarian girl once was standing. He can’t help but let out a grunt as he slams the orb shut, capturing the stone. 

“How could I be so dumb?” He asks himself.

↞ ↠

“Jesus fuck!” Hank is screaming, fingers gripping at the blue fur along the sides of his head. “I cannot believe you were carrying around a ball filled with  _ death.  _ You know how many times Erik threw that thing around? We could’ve  _ died. _ ” 

“Well, we aren’t." Erik grunts, seeing the distraught look on Charles’ face. 

“We need to get this to the Nova Core,” He says, turning. He gently places his hand on the side of Erik’s chin. “Erik, we cannot control this. If Ronan or Marko gets their hands on this we’ll all die. They’ll kill half the universe - Erik, please.” 

Erik can only stare dumbly. 

“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me here?” Hank is saying, spit flying from the canines in his mouth. “The Nova Core will send us back to some rank-dank prison and throw the orb somewhere else! Just give the damn thing to Ronan!” 

“He’s a genocidal maniac,” Logan tells him. He brushes the dirt off his clothing, not a scratch on him. “If we give him this, he’ll kill us all. Just like Charles said.” 

“Well,” Hank says, eyes wild and voice shaky. “If Erik tosses that shit around one more time, I wouldn’t doubt he’d set the thing off like a fuckin’ time bomb and blow up the universe himself.” 

Charles groans and drags his hand down to grip Erik’s coat and look at him. “Erik,” He begs. “Please, we have to take it to the Nova Core.” 

They’re all looking at him. Hank, Logan, and Charles. They’re all wanting  _ his  _ order on what to do with it.” 

“Well,” Erik says, gingerly taking the orb from Charles’ grasp. “I definitely agree we should not have it.  _ But  _ I also agree to not give it to the Nova Core since they want to arrest us. How about, we combine both perspectives and give the stone to a very nice person, who is very rich and will give us money?” 

Charles jerks away from him like he’s on fire, snatching the orb back. “You are a fool,” He says, glaring. “I cannot believe I would think anything more of you.” 

Erik goes to say something as the telepath goes running but when he sees Scott standing in the middle of the market, shoulders squared and fist closed, he gasped. “Oh no,” He says mutely. 

The Dark Aster is landing down on the ground when Charles is running behind a piece of rubble from the explosion. Hank, Logan, and Erik follow him. 

“Is he fucking dumb?” Logan asks. “Look at how tiny he is. Ronan could fart and it would blow him away.” 

Charles closes his eyes and takes one long, deep breath before relaxing. “We have to leave,” He says. “If Ronan finds us here, he will kill us all and take the orb.” 

“There are mining pods right there,” Logan says, pointing where the miners are getting off beside them. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you used them as a shortcut to the ship?” 

“There are only three,” Hank says. “Who’s gonna stay back?” 

“I will,” Logan says. “Harder to kill me. I’ll make sure Scott doesn’t get too badly hurt.” 

Charles groans. “God, I hate him right now. Let’s go,” 

As they’re running towards the pod, Logan looks at Scott. He tilts his head to the side and shrugs to himself. “Eh, someone that brave can’t be that bad. Dumb, but not bad.” 

↞ ↠

Scott is drunk. He knows it, the people he’s traveling with knows it, the man who transferred the message for him knows it, and Ronan sure as hell knows it when he gets off the deck to look at him. He steps down slowly, shoulders wide, broad, and muscular. His blue face has matted black ink smeared underneath his eyes, dripping down his cheeks and coming together to blot over his chin. 

“Hey, Ronan!” Scott shouts. The back of his mind is panicking. But if what stories tell are true, Ronan isn’t a mutant. Scott is. 

He doesn’t like the way the name tastes on his tongue, so he gives himself another shot. “Yo, asswipe!” 

Ronan lets out a small chuckle, standing at the edge of the stairs to his ship. “Well,” he muses, crossing his arms. “You must be the one who sent the message. Thank you for that, by the way.” 

“You killed my family,” Scott says. There’s anger clawing at the underneath of his skin; bubbling around his heart. “You killed them in front of me. For that? You deserve  _ death. _ ”

A burly man comes up behind Ronan, his skull half metal, and the bottom half of his leg made from metal as well. “Ronan,” he barks. “Charles is here. He’s escaping in a pod, he has the orb.” 

Ronan gives Scott one last look before turning around. 

Angry, Scott activates his glasses and aims directly at Ronan’s back. He sends a blast of laser beams at him for more than a minute before he stops. He didn’t know what he was expecting. A pile of ash? Maybe, a melting Ronan standing in the place where solid Ronan once was? He didn’t know. But he sure didn’t expect a Ronan fully intact, only a mere dust of ash resting upon his armor. 

“Go fetch the orb, Cain,” Ronan says to the man behind him, turning around to cross his arms. “I would like to play with the little one if I could.” 

The man - Cain, he heard him say - hesitates before turning and shouting something to two guards on the inside of the ship. 

↞ ↠

As they’re entering the pods, someone shouts Erik’s name. 

“Lehnsherr!” A stern voice yells towards them. They turn to see an older man, brown hair swept to the side and standing with a blue woman. “I would love to  _ dare  _ you to move!” 

“Is that your bounty?” Hank can’t help but ask. 

Erik doesn’t respond, pushing the miner that gets out of the pod nearest to him away. “Just get in, I can’t handle another family reunion on our hands.”

“You’re so paying for that comment when we get back,” Charles grunts out as he grips a handlebar and pulls himself into the pod.

↞ ↠

There are three Kree escape pods going after them. Erik doesn’t really know if they can be counted as an escape pod since they’re able to blast  _ laser beams  _ at them. 

“Fuck!” He hears Charles curse as a large beam sends him spiraling in the other direction. He steers off course for a slight moment until he gets back on, hands shaking as he does so. 

“Aim for the furthest pod,” They hear a deep voice say from a Kree ship. “My father’s beloved favorite is in there.” 

Charles dips his pod down, aiming for the ground. When he almost touches it, he jerks his controls upwards; causing the Kree ship behind him to crash into the ground. 

“Cain,” He says, recognizing the voice. “Cain - I swear, if you kill me, I will haunt your ass till all eternity!” 

There is a deep laugh from the communicator. “Oh, dear little brother - you act as if that would phase me.” 

“It should phase you,” Charles spits. “Fuckin’ asshole.” 

It’s the first time Hank has heard Charles curse, so as he’s ducking from laser beams and sprinting away from Kree’s, he laughs. “Little golden boy of the universe better watch his language,” 

“Oh he sure likes language,” Cain growls. “Especially when it’s in my head.” 

Charles takes a sharp right to loop around a large building. “That was not my fault, Cain,” He says. “You were my brother, I would’ve done anything to protect us. If it meant doing what Marko asked - so be it.” 

“I still have nightmares,” comes the dark reply. “Nightmares from what you did to me. Nightmares from what our  _ father  _ did to me.” 

Erik slams his pod into one of the Kree’s ship, watching as it goes flying down into the ground. A small blast of fire spurts from the ground as it does so. 

“Hate to break up the brotherly love,” He says through his communicator. “But Charles, Hank - the pods are made of industrial vibranium. If you slam into the others ship, it’ll go flying.” 

“No need for any more talking,” Cain says. 

Charles screams at there’s a shot to his pod, and he can’t help but feel his heart jump into his throat when he hears the crack of glass. His windows weren’t made of vibranium - only the outsides. There are too many Kree ships behind him. He can barely see Erik or Hank anymore. 

“Erik I have to head out of Knowhere,” He says into the com. “I can’t make it like this.” 

“Those pods weren’t meant to be out there!” Hank cries. 

“Well,” Charles says, defeated. “I’m in the front. Nowhere else to go.” 

“Good pun,” Cain says to through the com, amused. 

They don’t speak once they’re out in space. The windows to the miner’s pods are starting to crust with ice. 

Charles almost makes it. 

_ Almost.  _

Erik and Hank are able to take down more than enough ships - after Cain was the only one left standing, more ships and even more seemed to come their way. Nobody gave any attention to Hank or Erik unless they were in their way - firing angrily at Charles. Erik is able to slam into Cain’s ship, but it does nothing more than to help him. As soon as he’s in front of Charles’ ship, he’s won. 

“Ah, brother,” Cain says. 

There is fear in Charles’ voice when he speaks. “Cain, please,” He begs. “You know what Ronan will do - he will kill us all.” 

“You know,” Cain says. “You were always my favorite, too.” 

Then there is a blast through Charles’ ship that breaks it. 

Charles screams as he slams through the glass, his entire pod shattering into millions of pieces. It’s peaceful for a moment when the oxygen to Charles’ brain cuts off, and Erik and Hank are left staring as he’s floating into space. Flakes of ice are already etching themselves onto his skin. The orb is somewhere now - Erik doesn’t know. He’s too busy staring at Charles to know. 

A flash of guilt grips his heart as Cain jerks his ship around; mission successful. He has the orb. Charles is dead. Dying, Erik corrects himself. 

“Lehnsherr,” Hank is saying with a low voice. “He has maybe a few more minutes, then he’s ice. And if we stay out here? We’ll be joining him. C’mon, we have to go.” 

He turns his pod around and starts heading back to Knowhere. Erik is still staring at Charles, heart beating slowly as more flakes take up the smooth space on his skin. 

It’s his fault, he thinks. 

It’s his fault. 

He remembers when Charles was almost killed in prison - that protective instinct that took over his mind. He remembers dancing. He remembers love. 

He remembers love. 

He presses the communicator and plugs in Shaw’s communicator info quickly. “Shaw,” He announces. “My coordinates are 273B48, just outside of Knowhere.” He pauses, realizing he has to act now. “Come get me.” 

“Lehnsherr, no,” Hank says. 

He watches as Erik presses the button clipped behind his ear and opens the door to his space pod. The mask covers his face, and Erik uses the beams that come from his boots to make it to Charles quickly, enveloping him in his arms. His skin is cold, and his eyes are frozen over. 

“Erik, stop!” 

He takes his mask off and puts it on Charles. It takes a moment before he feels the telepath jerk in his arms, breathing in deeply. 

↞ ↠

“So,” Ronan says, striding forwards towards Scott, who starts to back up. “I see you are petty I killed your family?” 

Scott tries to blast him but the large man is already grabbing his throat and lifting him off of the ground. He hits Ronan, his eyes send blasts - but nothing happens. 

“I do not remember your family,” He says. “And by the looks of it, I won’t remember killing you.” 

Scott is thrashing wildly, face turning purple from the lack of oxygen. 

“Poor thing,” Ronan says, frowning slightly. “Perhaps you should’ve prepared to fight.” 

And then Scott is being flung. His body goes limp as he crashes into the container filled with spinal fluid. He’s touching the ground before he gets the chance to scream.

↞ ↠

It doesn’t take long before the familiar blinding white light from 1988 surrounds them. Erik weakly wraps his arms around Charles and tries to hold on tightly. He presses his neck into the crook of Charles’ neck as they are sucked into Shaw’s ship. 

They are thrown onto the floor, the light disappearing and the open hole in the floor closing. 

Blue eyes flutter open and stare at Erik, who gently places his hands on the side of Charles’ face. He brushes his thumb against bright red lips, a small crack along the bottom. 

“Erik?” He asks, confused. 

“I couldn’t let you die,” he explains. “I just - I don’t know. Nobody wanted to protect you. Nobody wanted to save you, I just...I couldn’t let it happen. You’ve just opened something up in me I guess. Something I don’t ever want to have leave.” 

“Erik-”

“Please,” Erik says, movings his hand from where it is to comb through Charles’ hair. “I just care about you, that’s all. Even someone as closed off as you needs someone to hold onto.” 

Erik knows he touched something with Charles. He knows he got through to Charles. He knows because when the telepath touches him, he shares his emotions with Erik. He can feel the thumping of the heart, feel the gratefulness in the small touch. 

“Also-” 

Charles groans and tosses his head back. “Where’s the orb?” 

“See, what happened was-” 

They’re interrupted by a door slamming open. Raven is standing there, hand on her hip; and gun hanging from the belt wrapped around her blue waist. There’s a smirk on her face. 

“Glad to see you finally brought a date home,” She greets. “Welcome home, Erik.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my tumblr @blackbanther for q/c/c


	10. We All Have Dead People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ i use grammarly to edit  
> ~ do not own characters/plot

Logan wasn’t surprised when Ronan was flinging Scott away as if he were a mere bug that was crawling on his skin. He watched from afar as Scott went flying in the air and crashed into a container of celestial spinal fluid; body sinking. Ronan gave a small smirk before turning behind and returning to his ship. It wasn’t that long of a fight, but Scott must’ve tried to put a dent in so hard it took up twenty minutes of their time; since that kid with the robot parts comes flying back telling Ronan they’ve received the orb.

He watches as the Kree’s leave on their ship before cursing under his breath and running over to the container Scott was thrown into. The miners and people visiting the Collector’s club are slowly emerging from the ruble - all of them shaking.

“Does this stuff hurt?” Logan asks a miner who stands beside him.

“N-No, sir,” He says, twirling his fingers around each other. “Would-would you mind getting him out? He won’t be harmed, but if he dies in there, the entire batch will go to waste when he rots in there.”

Logan scoffs and steps back, taking the bottom of his shirt into his hands and peeling it off of him, ignoring the looks women are giving him. He flings it to the floor and grips onto the side of the container before jumping in.

The texture of spinal fluid was disgusting. It was like swimming in an entire pool of mucus. The mutant took long, deep strokes to get to Scott, eyes twitching and burning as he looked for him. He found Scott on the floor of the container, eyes closed. He pressed his feet to the bottom of the container, scooped the smaller male in his arms, and pushed up.

When he reached the surface, he took in a large breath of air and flung Scott’s limp body over his shoulder. Once they were out of the container he laid him on the ground, pressing his fingers into the crook of Scott’s neck. There was a faint pulse, and when Logan pressed a hand into the middle of his chest; it felt backed up.

“Don’t shoot at me when you wake up, kid,” Logan says out loud to his unconscious body.

He flicks his wrists back and soon the metal is ripping his skin and protruding from his knuckles. He rips Scott shirt off before pressing one claw gently into Scott’s chest. Not enough to kill him, or severely injure him, but enough to cut him clean open and be able to heal from it.

Just as Logan suspected, thick handfuls of spinal fluid leaked out of the cut. All he had to do was press on the sides for a little while before Scott was sucking in a whimpered, defeated breath of air.

“What the fuck?” He asks, looking down at his body.

Before he can react physically, Logan rests a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Relax,” He tells him. “It’s just me. Ronan threw you into that container of goop and somehow you sucked it all in. If it weren’t for that cut, I’m sure your entire nervous system would be shutting down about now.”

Scott groaned, licking his lips and wincing at the taste. “What is this stuff?” He asks.

“Spinal fluid,” Logan says. He allows himself to stand up, and - Scott can’t even make this stuff up - shakes as much of it off of him like a dog. “Nothing too dangerous, but it sure can act like water when it comes to drowning.”

Scott sits up in confusion as Logan walks over to the miners and asks for a towel. He comes over, drapes the two raggedy towels over his shoulders, and helps Scott stand up.

“This is so gross,” Scott says as he swipes at the spinal fluid marking his skin with the towel. “What’s the purpose of mining this stupid head?”

“Money,” is Logan’s simple answer.

By the time they are somewhat clean; clothes still dripping with yellow fluid but whatever patches of skin open dry, Hank is approaching them.

“Erik just got himself captured saving little miss damsel-in-distress. By the way, Ronan’s got the orb!” Hank is yelling by the time he’s in front of them, arms crossed tightly across this chest. “You know, if your dumbass hadn’t tried to take on an entire army, we wouldn’t be stuck in this mess!”

Scott inhales sharply, looking down in the towel in his hand. “I just- I could handle knowing whoever killed my family was wandering around the universe.”

“Whatever!” Hank says, voice laced with anger and pettiness. “We all have dead people, Scott. We all have some sort of fucking garbage from some fucking asshole hanging off our shoulders. But you know what? We don’t all let it end our lives and drag people down with us along the fucking way. Who cares if your family is dead? Look at me!  _ Look  _ at me. Look at Charles, look at Erik, look at Logan. None of us have a family. Stop being a fucking bitch about it and man up!”

There’s a silence in the air, and Scott isn’t saying anything. If Logan notices how his arms tense and the fist clutching his towel tightens, he doesn’t say anything.

“Kind of harsh, McCoy.”

“Well he needs to hear it,” Hank says, growling. He pauses, before speaking again. “C’mon, Logan. Maybe if we get halfway across the universe we’ll be able to live out full lives before the fucking maniac kills us.”

He turns and starts to walk, but stops when he realizes Logan isn’t following him. With a huff, he turns around. “Is this where you scold me?” 

Logan rolls his eyes. “Hank, I’ve been traveling with you for a long time. Just us. These are the only friends we have ever had.”

“Who cares?” Hank snaps. “What have friends ever done for us?”

“I get it,” Logan says. “I get it, Hank, I really do. You don’t want to trust anyone else because like you told Scott, we all have garbage. But maybe - just  _ maybe _ ...we can all help carry each other’s garbage. As a team. After all, we do work very well together.”

“We lost the orb,” Hank says weakly. “How is that working well together?”

“We weren’t all together,” Scott points out.

“Let’s get Erik and Charles,” Logan says. “They would do the same for us.”

Hank yanks at his hair before growling and kicking at the ground harshly. A cloud of dust flies into the air. “God, I fucking hate you.”

Logan smirks and walks past Hank, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go get Erik’s ship and save those lovebirds.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you have any q/c/c ask/follow my tumblr:
> 
> blackbanther.tumblr.com


	11. Betrayal from a Hypocrite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ i use grammarly to edit  
> ~ do not own plot/characters

Cain watches with dark eyes at Ronan speaks to his father. The orb is clutched within Ronan’s hands, thumb gliding over its surface gently. It didn’t take long for him to figure out an infinity stone lay within the orb after Kree soldiers set up at the Collector’s bar informed him of what happened; their skin melting off of bone, and their clothes ripped and stained with soil.

After living with someone like Kurt Marko their entire life, Cain is happy to finally be away from him. Charles is, too. Or at least he assumes.

He still remembers when they were younger. Charles being daddy’s little boy - the favorite of the pack. He wasn’t even Marko’s flesh and blood, unlike Cain and his siblings, yet he was still top of the litter - beating them in combat, screwing with their brains, and never once stopping to realize what he was doing to the rest of them.

Cain is reminded of the pity never gave by Charles everytime he does something simple. Whether it be breathing, talking, walking - he will always be reminded of the nightmares his younger, adopted sibling embedded in his brain. Will always feel the harsh, uncontrollable punches that were never pulled back.

Now he’s finally dead. Rotted away in the galaxy.

Soon, his father will be too.

Marko's face is dull, face drooping. Cain can’t remember the last time he had seen his father, but there’s a tingle of excitement when they start to exchange pleasantries.

“Marko,” Ronan says, voice booming off of the walls, and startling some of the soldiers that watch intensely. “As you asked, I have retrieved the orb for you.”

“Good,” Marko says, a small twitch to the side of his face. “After infiltrating my favorite son, perhaps this will fill me with the hole he has left me.”

Ronan pauses, barring nasty, blackened teeth. “We had nothing to do with your precious Xavier, Marko. He was the one who betrayed us - left us to fend for ourselves, and carry out our mission with no help.”

“Stop playing, boy,” Marko spits. “Give me the orb and I will destroy Xandar just as we had discussed.”

“No, no, no,” Ronan says quietly, looking up with dark eyes. “See, when you were playing fetch with me, I’ve discovered what rests in this orb.” His hands comb over it, letting a gentle sigh escape from his lips. “A beautiful, powerful infinity stone.”

“Stop playing, boy!” Marko barks once more. 

Ronan sucks his teeth in, eyes filled with rage as he meets Marko’s foul gaze. “You call me boy!” He yells, the muscles in his neck sticking up from their place in his skin. “Yet  _ I  _ am the one who has gotten this orb for you. Not your beautiful son, who you seem to not yet discipline for betraying your own army, but  _ me.  _ Hand me my weapon, Cain. Now.”

Cain doesn’t hesitate, the thrill of excitement bubbling through his veins as he yanks the weapon held by one of the soldiers viciously. He steps forward and allows Ronan to take it from him.

The man grins at Marko, eyes burning with fire. “Let’s so who calls boy who when I’m in charge of an infinity stone!”

The soldiers all gasp, and Cain reaches out to grip one by the neck, one of them daring to say Marko is too powerful for him to take over. He pulls the soldier in close to his face and spits, “Ronan is now more powerful,” he says. “You bow to  _ him. _ ”

Everything happens in one, large blur.

When Ronan manages to open the orb, he grips the infinity stone tightly - eyes maddened with adrenaline and grinning widely. He laughs as purple cracks through his skin, seeping through his veins and coloring his once black eyes. It’s almost too much for Cain to watch but it’s like watching Charles crash through his window - it’s hard to take in, but easy to watch.

The man crushes the infinity stone into the side of his anvil-shaped weapon; watching as it breaks through the tough material and embedded itself into the center.

“I am not longer your boy!” Ronan screams, wild with the feeling that the stone has given him. “I will destroy Xandar myself and when I am done,  _ you  _ will be killed next. I’m sure beating your precious little Xavier into submission will be a bonus, as well.”

Unable to watch, Marko shuts off the connection.

“Are you going to kill my father?” Cain asks through the silence. He doesn’t mention Charles. He’ll explain the death of his brother to him later.

Ronan’s head snaps towards him. “Do you dare to object me?”

Cain immediately gets down on one knee, bowing his head downwards. “If you kill my father,” His harsh voice whispers. “I will be your right-hand man for the rest of eternity. I will die for you.”

Ronan chuckles.

_ That’s what he was hoping to hear. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for any q/c/c go to/follow my tumblr:
> 
> blackbanther.tumblr.com


	12. Overuse of Communication

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ i use grammarly to edit  
> ~ do not own plot/characters

Erik wasn’t really surprised Shaw hated his guts. He honestly thought, maybe, just maybe - if he handed himself over, his fake-foster father wouldn’t be too mad at the fact Erik had stolen a really big client from underneath him without him realizing. When Shaw had him hanging from a wall, Charles pinned back by Raven - he could only guess that he was a little bit mad.

“Stop!” Charles yelled, trying to tug out of Raven’s grip and not being able to. All of Shaw’s crew was gathered around them, cheering their captain on as he punched Erik repeatedly. “Stop it!”

_ Why not just use your telepathy to get them to stop?  _ Erik projects to Charles, eyes glancing over at him and then eyes screwing up with pain as a hard punch is delivered to his ribcage.

Charles keeps up the afraid act, voice going weak with his attempts to get them to stop.  _ Want them to be surprised when I overthrow them and get us off this ship. I like seeing confused and rattled faces. Also, it’s my own form of payback for you calling Ronan and I family. _

Erik bites down a laugh as Shaw smacks him across the face. Sometimes, it’s easy to act as if Charles and him are the only two people in the world.

“I took you in, Lehnsherr,” Shaw is spitting. Literally, spitting. If Erik’s hands weren’t bounded to the wall, he wouldn’t even fight back. He’d just wipe the spit off his face and say how gross he is and to shut his mouth. “This men, they wanted to eat you. But I said  _ no.  _ I protected you from getting eaten, and raised you to be the fine ravager that you are today. And this is my thanks? You  _ betraying  _ me?”

“Oh fuck you,” Erik says, trying to shake the spit off of his face. “Number one, you keep spitting on me, and number two - you stole me from my family! By the way, normal people don’t  _ eat  _ others! That’s called  _ cannibalism,  _ and it’s frowned upon in most societies!”

There’s a quick punch to his gut again, causing Erik to hunch over in pain.

“That’s enough,” Charles says sternly, and for the first time since he’s been screaming at them - Shaw turns.

He walks over with a frown, moving his eyes up and down Charles’ body before smirking. Shaw turns his head to Erik. “Was this your bitch in prison?” He asks.

With a flick of the hand, Charles is being let go from Raven’s grasp. He studies Shaw warily and when the man goes to touch him, he wacks the hand away. “Don’t touch me,” he snaps.

“Fiesty,” Shaw says. “But if you want dear Erik here to live, I would suggest you do as we say.”

Charles hesitates before allowing the man to slide an arm around his waist, sucking in a deep breath when the man’s lips meet his ears. “I don’t know how long you’ve known Erik, sweetheart,” the man whispers. “But I sure hope you know he knows how to love ‘em and leave ‘em alone.” 

It sounds familiar, but Charles ignores the sharp pain that pinches his heart. Erik was just some fool thinking with what was between his legs, rather than his brain. He was despicable, a thief, and grew up in the slums of the galaxy itself. He meant nothing to Charles. Besides, there was a war going on, just like he had said the other night - there was no time for love. It was distracting, and it made people vulnerable. 

He moves to say something but closes his mouth.

“That’s what I thought,” Shaw whispers. “And I know a son of a powerful God would never let love get in the way, but I sure know a human like Erik would.”

Charles hangs his head and bites his lip as Shaw pulls back, looking at the man in question. The older man pinches the smaller male, who jerks his head up to glare at him.

“Don’t touch him,” Erik says. Charles can feel the disgust, shame, and anger wafting off of him. “Just - fuck. Just...do whatever you want to me, I don’t care as long and you don’t touch him.”

“This little thing?” Shaw quips, looking down at Charles by his side. Using his free hand, he pinches the boy’s cheek. “Aw, I sure could never harm someone so cute. You, on the other hand, haven’t been this cute since you were a baby.”

“I swear to  _ God _ if you lay one fucking hand on him where it shouldn’t be - I will  _ murder  _ you.”

Charles looks up at where Erik’s bound wrists are. The metal is worn, rust gathering around the edges. It seems like, with every word he yells at Shaw, it grips around his wrists even more.

He hates the way Shaw’s skin feels on his and tries to jerk back.

“You know, now that I think about it,” Shaw says, moving his hand from Charles’s cheeks down to his wrists and tugging him in front of the man. Fingers grip his hips hard, and the taller man rests his head on his shoulders. “You haven’t been very helpful since you were younger. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t take your little bitch and kill you right now.”

Now would be a good time to do something, but Charles can’t find it in him to move. Besides the scene with Erik on the balcony, and when they were beamed up into the ship - he has never been touched by another human being unless it was a touch of violence. To be grabbed by Shaw, to hear the ideas running through his head on how he could rape Charles and then kill Erik...it was too much. The male felt a pressure in his head, and it would be so, so  _ easy  _ to demobilize him and escape - but for some reason, he couldn’t. And he think it’s the emotions that are radiating off of Erik, not just Shaw.

He feels...loved.

Erik panics. His wrists go forward to try and free himself, but nothing happens. From the force he uses, there’s a barely heard screech, but nothing else happens. “Stop!” He yells. “If you kill me, you’re losing the best steal you have ever seen my friend.”

There’s a silence, and Charles is nodding his head. He’s looking directly into Erik’s eyes, but he isn’t looking back at him. It’s like everything is clear to him, except everything is  _ Erik.  _ The stupid, music-loving human who he somehow crossed paths with. And Charles won’t accept that. He doesn’t do love. And Erik doesn’t, either.

“And what would that be?” Shaw snips. “That stone everybody’s been chasing after? You’d have to be out of your fucking mind if you think I’m gonna steal anything for Ronan. You better come up with something real quick or your little boy is gonna get a punishment.”

There’s a flash of memory that projects off of Erik and onto Charles. It’s him as a little boy, in a situation exactly like this - Shaw kicking him in the stomach repeatedly as a swarm of ravagers surrounding him spit down at him as if he were nothing but a mere mutt they decided to beat. Charles winces visibly, and while it isn’t the worst he’s seen - that doesn’t make the queasy knot in his stomach any better.

“We have an in with Ronan,” Erik says, tipping his chin to Charles. “C’mon, Shaw. Not only do you get billions of units, but you also get to save yourself from being blasted to tiny chunks of nothing.” 

Shaw’s grip on Charles’ hip tighten, and there must be a visible discomfort in his face because Erik is looking at him apologetically.

“What does this one do?” The man holding him says, letting go of one of his hips to gently run a hand down Charles’ face.

The smaller boy shivers.  _ Stop touching me,  _ He projects to Shaw. Charles makes sure Erik can also hear what he’s projecting.  _ And then maybe we can talk business. _

A large grin cracks open on Shaw’s face, and he lets go of Charles’ hips, shoving him forward. He almost crashes into Erik but presses his palms against the man’s broad chest to stop himself. Whatever Erik may say to him in the future, no matter what he says - Charles definitely did  _ not  _ blush.

Shaw quickly cuts the handcuffs holding Erik up with a quick flick of the sword he pulls from - well, Charles doesn’t really know what it came from, but he’s assuming someone handed it to him.

“So,” The man says, watching with a glint in his eye as Charles turns around; Erik now looming over him. There’s only a hair of space in between them. “What’s this plan of yours?”

It must be God, or some other spirit blessing him, because before Erik can answer - the ship rocks and an alarm goes off. Shaw bends his knees, hands darting out slightly to help himself stay stable. Erik grips Charles bicep tightly, and unlike Shaw’s touch, it doesn’t make him want to viciously turn around and deck him right in the face.

“What the fuck was that?” Shaw asks.

Right on cue, Hank’s voice infiltrates through the communicator five feet away from them. “Attention, savages,” He says, voice booming with authority he doesn’t have. If Charles weren’t actually stuck in this situation, it would be majorly amusing to him. “We have come to the conclusion that you have two of our friends. One is Erik Lehnsherr, a dumbass human looking to get himself killed, and the other is Charles - who, if he wasn’t raised by a genocidal maniac, would’ve probably turned out okay.”

Charles gives a pointed look when Erik gives a small huff of amusement behind him.  _ Not funny,  _ he thinks. Erik clears his throat and then lets go of Charles to cross his arms, giving a curt nod.

“Now, I am a very talented scientist. Top of the top - best of the best,” There’s a small screech from the communicator before Logan’s voice is taking over. “If you don’t have the twink and his top over to us now we’re gonna blow your shit up using some weird alien bomb. You have five seconds. One, two-”

Erik is scrambling past Charles and Shaw to make it to the Ravagers communicator. He puts it directly two inches in front of his mouth. “Logan we’re fine!” He shouts, and there’s a small feedback that causes everyone to wince and grip the sides of their temples. “Jesus Christ, we’re okay; there’s no need to blow the ship up!”

There’s a pause, a sound of shuffle, and then Scott’s voice is replacing Logan’s.

“You’re a real loud motherfucker, you know that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh i feel like im writing this for shits and giggles lol i feel like nobody likes it but i have four chapters left so waddup 
> 
> follow/go to my tumblr for any q/c/c:
> 
> blackbanther.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> my Tumblr is @blackbanther for any questions/comments :)


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